


Unbonded, Unbroken

by Spiegatrix_Lestrange



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Accidental Bonding, Alpha Ben Solo, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Porn, Badass Rey, Crimes & Criminals, Dark, Drug Dealing, Emotional Constipation, F/M, Fluffy Coping Mechanisms, Hand Jobs, Heavy Angst, Human Trafficking, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kylo Ren Angst, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Mating Bites, Mating Bites are socially unacceptable, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mention of Non-Con mating, Non-Con does not occur between main characters, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Omega Rey (Star Wars), Omega Trafficking, Organized Crime, Public Masturbation, References to Drugs, This is why the Non-Con tag is there, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Undercover Missions, Vaginal Fingering, background non-con, perceived dubcon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2020-12-22 01:29:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21066740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spiegatrix_Lestrange/pseuds/Spiegatrix_Lestrange
Summary: PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF THE TAGSAlderaan city is facing a new, disturbing threat. A powerful crime cartel is kidnapping Omegas, keeping them as prisoners for unspeakable, revolting reasons the local police need to investigate further. Detective Ben Solo goes undercover as Kylo Ren, determined to dismantle the cartel from the inside, but there's a requirement he must fit if he wants to gain the cartel's trust: he must bring an Omega as an offer to the organization.Rey Niima is a young, promising agent who knows exactly how hard an Omega's life can be. When the opportunity occurs to give her contribution to saving her fellow Omegas from the cartel's grasp, she volunteers immediately, determined to help Detective Solo with any means necessary.______________





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a brief note, PLEASE READ!! This is a story about human trafficking. It has dark themes that end up in the mention of Non-con. I've tried tho keep the non-con warning on, but then I realized it's normally used if the Non-Con dynamic is between the main character, which is not, in this case.  
This is why I decided to put it in the tags, especially considering that, if someone is actually here fo the Non-Con between the main characters, they will end up being disappointed, so I wanted to make things as clear as possible for everybody. If you think I've made the wrong decision, feel free to contact me and we can talk about it. Thank you for your time and BE MINDFUL OF THE TAGS! 
> 
> Just to be clear, I called this "Unbonded, Unbroken" because "This is some fucked up shit" sounded not dramatic enough. 
> 
> Enjoy <3

As the squad gathered outside of the main building, Rey could feel the excitement rushing through her veins, adrenaline pumping mercilessly as she made sure her incursion uniform was in place, her pupils blown as she checked the safety of her gun. 

Even if biology said quite the contrary, she felt she was born for this. Yeah, ‘cause normally Omegas were born to run, to avoid conflicts by just getting the fuck out of them—this was probably why very few Omegas were in the armed forces, and even less were on active duty like she was. 

Normally, except for the obvious majority of Betas, most agents—especially special agents—were Alphas, because of course they were. Damn stupid Alphas; nature had given them the whole package. Strength, stamina, reflexes. Their bodies were basically made to handle stress and exertion better.

Nevertheless, Rey hadn't allowed her designation to stop her. They might have been stronger, but she was faster, and that was quite a valuable skill when it came to breaking in to a hostile location.

The captain gestured silently for them to start moving, so Rey followed the plan. She and Finn moved as silently as possible to the side entrance, and when the communication finally arrived, Finn slammed the door open with a forceful, determined kick.

As they both walked in, looking around as they moved cautiously, guns in hand, Rey couldn't help but feel nervous, restless. This was an operation like many others before, this was supposed to be just another drug factory ready to be dismantled, but something in there felt wrong, just wrong. She could feel it in her guts, she could sense it as she felt the baby hair on her nape rising up in protest. Everything about that empty, dark place was telling her she needed to get the hell out. 

Why?

As they marched through a long corridor, Rey had the distinct feeling of incoming danger getting stronger and stronger, making her breaths come heavier.

Finn noticed that and gained her attention with a tiny gesture of his head and a worried look on his face. 

She could do this. There was no chance in hell she would blow this whole operation just because her body didn’t handle stress well.

She gave him a brief, hopefully reassuring thumbs up and pointed at the rest of the corridor before she started walking again.

The whole corridor was empty, apparently, definitely emptier than any other corridor they’d explored before. There wasn’t even one single door in it, except for the one they’d entered from. This was ridiculous. It made no sense. It just couldn’t be right. 

It took her a long moment to discern what the most primal part of her brain was telling her. The goosebumps, the shift in the air, that strange, familiar smell she could barely notice.

“All clear,” Finn muttered at the microphone on the collar of his vest, but Rey shushed him with a firm gesture. “Hold on,” he added right away.

Rey turned to give a proper look at the wall behind them. There was something disturbingly wrong about it. It was warmer than the rest of the corridor, she could feel it, but it wasn’t just that. As she palmed cautiously the plasterboard on the wall, she immediately noticed it was pretty hollow on the other side. 

She inhaled sharply, and, with a determined push, the whole panel slid to the side, revealing an even darker hidden room.

“Holy fuck,” Finn muttered in shock. “You’re good.”

Rey just shushed him as she walked inside, gun in hand, but the moment she took her first step in the new space, her throat and nose felt as if it was about to catch fire. 

The air was saturated with pheromones. It was so thick Rey could basically swim in it. She was so stunned it actually took her a long moment to realize there wasn’t just scent in there. There were breaths and sighs and hushed cries. 

Fuck.

She tilted her head, just to make sure her voice sounded loud and clear in the mic.

“To all AO agents, inject emergency suppressants right now. I repeat, to all AO agents, inject emergency suppressant right now!”

“What’s going on?” Finn asked from the entrance, sounding totally clueless. 

Rey didn’t answer right away. She was too busy looking for the light switch. She knew that turning lights on was absolutely against the protocol, but instinct was urging her to do so.

As the cold neon lights finally flickered on, Rey felt her mouth go dry and the air sucked out of her lungs as if someone had kicked her in the stomach.

The room was far larger than she had imagined, and the whole wall in front of her was covered with what looked like cells. Small plexiglass cells. In each and every one of them, there was a person—a young, pale, malnourished person with heavy breath, bloodshot eyes, and what looked like an old, ruined hospital gown.

Most of those poor souls turned their heads to look at the intruders, shock and panic on their faces as some of them reached for the plexiglass wall between them.

“Please,” a girl, probably in her late teens started to cry, big, bloodshot eyes on Rey as she crawled on the dirty floor of her cell. “Please, help us.”

As Rey moved closer, the scent coming from the cell hit her like a wall of bricks.

Those people were Omegas, all of them, and as their scent spiked into her nose she finally noticed how most of their bodies were spasming uncontrollably. They were all in heat. All that smell in such a small room was almost nauseating, and even if nature hadn’t built her to react to it, it was just too much. It made her feel dizzy.

“We have hostages here,” she declared into her mic, voice strained. “Twelve people, they need medical attention, only Beta personnel required.”

Rey could hear the sigh of her capitan on the other side of her communicator.

“Got you covered, Rogue six. Paramedics are on their way.”

***

Rey sighed deeply as she looked at the elevator doors in front of her. Even if the incursion had been more than twenty-four hours ago, the smell of those poor Omegas was still on the back of her throat, like the tiny, physical memory of a torment that had happened to her too.

She forced herself to push that thought away and straightened her jacket, taking a deep breath. She was at the district now, she was an accomplished agent, she wasn’t the scared, lonely Omega girl in Hunkar Plutt’s basement, constantly covered in grease and motor oil, forced to work ungodly hours if she wanted to earn her suppressants.

As the doors of the elevator finally opened, she put on her most neutral smile and entered the wide, crowded room, marching straight toward her desk. 

“Oh, look, the baby oven is here! Finally victorious, uh?” Rey couldn’t help but cringe as she heard Bane’s voice taunting her from his desk. “Finally all that Omega shit has been of some use, I heard.”

Contrary to what Bane expected of the stereotypical Omega woman he had in mind, Rey had to restrain herself from giving in to her urgent need to punch him in the face.

She just ignored him. once again, shaking her head as she reached her desk.

“Oh, c’mon sweety, it was a compliment!” the older agent insisted. “It’s just nice to know that those superpowers you have between your legs are finally serving some kind of purpose.”

Rey clutched her hands firmly around the file she was about to take a look at. Screw this.

“Uh, Bane?” She turned to look at him sharply.

“Yes, sweety?”

“How long have you been a cop?”

“Thirty years, baby girl. Back then they didn’t allow pretty little asses like yours in here.”

“And you’re an Alpha, right? Not that I can scent you, of course. You’re far too old, and your hormones died so long ago they’re basically fossils now, but you keep bragging about your designation with our Beta colleagues.” 

Bane’s smug face turned into an annoyed scowl in less than a second.

“And tell me, in your long and prestigious career, how many times you ended up using your superior senses to solve a case?”

“I-”

“When was your last promotion? How’s your arrest record this year?”

Bane just lowered his gaze, snarling.

“I thought so. See, if a weak little Omega like me can do your job better than you, maybe you’re not much of an Alpha after all.” 

Rey didn’t finch as the tall, imposing figure of the other agent rose from his chair, chin high and eyes furious as he stopped aggressively in front of her, nostrils flared and a low, tired growl echoing in his chest.

“Don’t act as if you can actually scent me or command me, dude. We both know you can’t,” Rey stated coldly, her eyes stuck on his, looking as unimpressed as possible. “Besides, what’s between my legs is a vagina. If you want to act like a designationist douchebag, at least grow some balls and call her by her name.”

“Agent Niima?” Someone cleared her throat behind her, and Rey immediately recognized Finn’s worried tone. As she turned, he wasn’t looking at her. His dark, menacing eyes were glued on Bane.

“Anyway, Bane, if you will excuse me,” she declared almost casually, “someone has to actually work, here.” 

As she walked toward Finn, leaving the asshole behind, he gestured her to follow him.

“Bane is an idiot, I swear-”

“You know that I don’t need your help, right?” Rey intervened before Finn could finish his sentence. “The last thing an Omega needs in the workplace is a Beta guy defending her,”

“I know that,” he muttered defensively. “I just wish he would stop acting like that.”

“Most Alphas are douchebags,” she pointed out carelessly, like that was just common knowledge, the most obvious thing ever really. “And many of them take their andropause pretty badly. Bane feels emasculated, and he feels the need to avenge his pride with me. No big deal, really.”

“Damn Alphas,” Finn said with a huff.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Rey offered him a wink. “In case you didn’t notice, all people have the potential to be douchebags. There’s nothing special about Alphas; Betas and Omegas can be assholes too. I mean, do you remember Hux, the Omega guy from the tech department?”

“About that.” Finn cleared his throat. “Captain Dameron wants to see you. He’s in his office with Hux and a few other agents from other departments.”

Rey raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Uh, did he tell you what he wants?” 

“They’re making up a task force. What they intend to do with it, I don’t know.”

“Probably it has something to do with the last mission,” Rey opined, shrugging.

“Maybe. Yu better go, though,” Finn suggested, .Dameron seemed tense,”

Rey furrowed her brow. That was new.

***

As she knocked on the door of Captain Dameron’s office, the baby hairs on her nape tensed slightly, and she couldn’t help but covering them with her hand. This was indeed a strange feeling. Captain Dameron was indeed an Alpha, but in her three years under his leadership, Rey had never reacted to him in any way. There must have been someone else in the room, someone she didn’t know. 

Rey got mentally ready to breathe with her mouth as she heard Dameron’s voice declaring a pretty loud ‘Come in!’

She opened the door, and the scent that greeted her didn’t give a shit about her breathing with her mouth. It was intense, genuine, strong beyond belief. For a second it almost overcame her, making her eyes water. 

What the fuck? 

Some Alpha in that room smelled like they’ve never seen a vial of suppressant in their lives. Was that even legal? The room was small, and that scent was literally overwhelming, and not in a bad way. Rey was aware of the fact that AO perception of smell was entirely subjective. The more you were compatible with another AO, the more your brain would perceive their scent as alluring Yet she had to admit, despite all her attempts at rationalization, she’d never smelled something so entrancing before. It smelled like burnt pinewood, old books, wet grass. It smelled amazing and disturbingly strong. Inappropriately strong. 

She took a second to regain her composure, carefully avoiding a deep breath her brain demanded her to take.

Only then, she gathered enough control to raise her eyes and take a proper look at the office.

Captain Dameron was sitting as usual at his desk. Rose Tico, the district forensic scientist, was right beside him, a voluminous file in her hands.

Of course, as Finn has said, Hux, the guy from the tech department, was there too, and beside him was sitting an Amazonian woman with pale blonde hair and a perfectly contained and manageable Alpha scent. 

That reduced the suspects to the last unknown figure in the room: a tall, broad male with long dark hair and a stern expression on his angular face. 

The guy was massive. He barely fit in the corner of the room he was standing in, arms crossed over his chest, huge shoulders hunched. There it was, the asshole who didn’t like suppressants. What a dick. 

Rey immediately forced herself to loathe him. It would have made things easier. As long as she was in that room she needed to remain focused, with firm hands and regular breath, and possibly without sweating. Her mouth, though, wanted to water so badly right now. Stupid unsuppressed Alpha. 

It took her a second to realize he was looking back at her, dark, focused eyes glued on her face as if he was trying to dig a hole there. This insufferable, entitled prick.

“As I was saying.” Captain Dameron cleared his throat. “Some of you already know agent Niima.”

Rose offered her a wide, cordial smile while Hux gave her only a little, distracted nod, his eyes fixed on his laptop.

“Niima, you already know Doctor Tico, and Hux. This is Phasma, from the DA’s office, and Detective Solo, from narcotics.”

Solo. The perfect name for a selfish, arrogant dick who thought he was too cool for suppressants. She didn’t say a word, giving them both a brief nod.

“Is she the officer who found the secret room at the warehouse?” the woman named Phasma asked.

“Exactly,” Captain Dameron nodded. At least nobody in the room looked surprised by the fact an Omega field agent was actually good at her job. Even if they were, it didn’t show.

Only the insufferable Alpha prick seemed a bit restless as he squared his shoulders, but Rey made a point of not looking at him.

“I’m afraid we ended up in something far bigger than we imagined, Niima,” Dameron explained. “Have you heard about Bliss?”

Rey’s brow furrowed.

“The new drug? We have reports of at least six deaths from overdose this month.” 

“Yes, that one. Detective Solo here is currently undercover inside the organization that—allegedly, of course—has the monopoly on Bliss in Alderaan,”

“What does it have to do with our last raid?” Rey was definitely annoyed by how tense her voice came out.

“You found what we believe is their main lab, Agent Niima,” Solo declared. His voice sounded, of course, as deep and rich as she imagined. Fuck him, really. 

“This doesn’t make any sense,” she replied defensively. “We only found people there. There wasn’t a single trace of the drug in the whole building. Only scared, malnourished Omegas.”

“Exactly,” Rose intervened, opening the file in front of her. “Only scared, malnourished Omegas, who all presented the same symptoms: Immune deficiency, chemical-hormonal alteration to keep them in a constant state of heat, mating marks, and traces of numerous needle-stick injuries in the mating gland areas.”

Rey’s mouth fell slack for a moment. This was disgusting on so many levels. Perpetual heats were basically torture for an Omega, and the mating bites, well… Those were considered borderline Neanderthal at this point. Nobody did that anymore.

“What are they doing to these people?”

“Agent Niima.” Phasma gave her a brief look before lowering her eyes back to her notes. “Are you familiar with Omegamine?”

Rey furrowed her brow. “It’s a hormone, right?”

“Not just a hormone. It’s a very specific hormone only mated Omegas produce, during heat intercourse with their mate,” Rose explained. “It’s like adrenaline or dopamine, only stronger. Its effects last longer, and it becomes basically undetectable after a few hours. It’s the—”

“The perfect drug,” Rey muttered in disgust, the gears in her head finally putting all the hints in the right place. “They’re using these people to make Bliss?” The revelation made her sick. She could almost feel nausea raging in her stomach. “They’re forcing these Omegas to mate so that they can keep them as their personal Omegamine reserve?”

“That’s what we believe,” Phasma confirmed. “And of course we’re adding Human Trafficking to the already long list of charges.”

“Charges against who?” Rey asked, trying not to sound too angry. As an agent, she was supposed to be detached and professional, but this whole story hit far too close to home. If her life would have been even slightly different, she could easily have been in one of those cells.

“Aleister Snoke, the alleged leader of the cartel,” Solo spoke again. “I’ve spent the last year infiltrating his ranks, but I’m not relevant enough yet in his organization, and he doesn’t like to talk much. I’ve spent the last year collecting clues of his crimes, but we’re not there yet.”

“A year?” Rey couldn’t help but sound outraged at this point. “A damn detective of the Alderaan police knew this was happening for a whole year and did nothing?”

“In case you didn’t notice, we’re not dealing with a minor shoplifter. Snoke has lawyers, foreign bank accounts, and a private jet that could take him out of the country whenever he pleases. We must gather enough proof that he’s guilty, or he’s going to find a way out!” Solo practically growled at her. “He shares vital information only with his inner circle, and it’s not that easy to get in there. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

Rey took a long, deep breath that was supposed to calm her, but it only made her feel worse—his scent was saturating the room by now.

“And what are you supposed to do to get in the inner circle?” she asked, her voice trembling slightly.

For a moment, the big, tough Alpha in the corner appeared hesitant as he looked away.

“I need to bring an Omega to him.” 

Rey closed her eyes for a long, terrible moment, rage rolling in her guts as she kept seeing those terrorized faces over and over in her mind. It could have been her, after all. Someone needed to do something.

“Very well.” She cleared her throat, trying to sound as firm as possible. “You need an Omega? You have it. Let’s do this.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I already say that HarpiaHarpyja is an amazing beta? Because she is <3 Thank you so much, sweety <3

“You gotta be kidding me.” Dameron was pinching helplessly at the ridge of his nose. Luckily, most of the people in the room had left; Rey knew things were about to get messy.

The fact was that, actually, she didn’t care. There were lives at stake here, lives of people just like her. She waited for her fate, raising her chin with defiance.

“There’s no way we’re doing this,” Detective Solo declared, because of course, he was still there. Seriously, this arrogant piece of shit.

“Niima, seriously, I don’t think you realize how dangerous this could be,” Captain Dameron pointed out.

“I’m aware,” she insisted as calmly as possible.

“No, you’re not.” Solo’s voice was dangerously close to a proper growl. “Do you have any idea of what happens to Omegas in there?”   
  
“You mean risking death and permanent consequences while you do nothing? Yeah, that’s kind of the reason why I offered my help,”

Solo inhaled sharply, giving her a murderous look, pupils blown and nostrils flared.

“I will not allow a reckless child to ruin everything I’ve worked for in the last year! This is not a game, Niima!” 

Rey could feel her blood boiling with pure fury in her veins. How dare he?

“First of all, I will not accept complaints about recklessness from an Alpha jerk who doesn’t know what a suppressant is,” she spat, looking right in his eyes. “And second of all—”

Before she could continue Solo erupted into a loud, bitter laugh.

“Do you think this is a choice? Really?” His scent spiked aggressively as he spoke. “Snoke doesn’t accept suppressed Alphas under him, he needs us like this.”

Rey just froze.

“What?”

“Omegas can’t produce Omegamine on their own,” Solo snarled, his massive hand running nervously through his hair., “They need—-”   
  
“Mates.” Rey concluded his sentence for him, a lump burning viciously in her chest. there was no way to hide her disgust as she spoke again. “Are you participating to this?”

“It doesn’t work like this,” the detective declared, taking a deep breath, “An Alpha can mate only with the Omegas they bring in to the organization. It’s a responsibility. Some of them mark even three, four Omegas at a time. Needless to say, the mark is rarely consensual.”

Rey had to resist the urge to puke at this point.

“Do they take all the Omegas? I just need an Alpha to vouch for me?”

“It’s not that simple. Usually there’s a trial period in which they check if you are”—Solo hesitated slightly—“compatible.”

For some very unpleasant reason, Rey knew, deep down, that compatibility wouldn’t have been a problem.

“How long does it take?”

“Usually a week.”

“Can you gather all you need in a week?”

Solo raised his head to look straight at her with wide eyes.

“I can try.”

“What if a week isn’t enough?” Dameron intervened.

“Then I have to…” The other Alpha swallowed thickly. “Mark her, with all that comes with it.”

Rey hated with all her being the disgustingly pleasant shiver that ran through her spine at that statement. Even though she did all she could to don’t react to it, something must have shifted in her scent. Solo turned his head to look at her abruptly, inhaling sharply as his eyes grow darker.

“This is not going to happen,” Captain Dameron interrupted . “I’m not going to put one of my best agents at risk.”

“What if it’s our only chance?” Rey insisted.

“Niima, mating marks are virtually permanent, and they mess with your brain chemistry,” the captain continued. “You might find yourself permanently attached to him.”

“It won’t happen,” she stated. “We’re not animals. We’re rational beings. I can handle this. All of this. These people need help, Captain, and if you don’t let me do this, I swear to God I’m going to do this on my own!”

Dameron took a deep, frustrated breath and then, after a long moment of deliberation, turned his head toward Detective Solo.

“If she comes back with the mark of your teeth on her neck, Solo, I swear to God—”   
  
The detective just lowered his gaze.

“I’ll do anything in my power to avoid it.”

Dameron just winced.

“I hope it’s enough.”

  
  


***

Rey took a deep breath, savoring for a moment the fresh, clean air of her apartment. Soon, any minute now, Detective Solo would pick her up, and they would be on the way to their first encounter with Snoke. 

It took her a few seconds to realize that her hands were actually shaking. She forced them into fists, refusing with every fiber of her body to allow her fear to win. 

She took a proper look at herself in the mirror, and she had to admit that she could barely recognize the woman in front of her. In a way, not seeing any kind of resemblance was almost comforting. She wasn’t supposed to be herself. 

What she needed to be was an Omega: the most stereotypical, embarrassing version of what an Omega could be. The exact kind of Omega a man at Snoke’s service would have found attractive.

As her eyes focused on the awkwardly tiny red dress that showed way more skin than she was comfortable with, she couldn’t help but think with a disgusted wince of her Omega ancestors, spending centuries fighting for the right to be free, to be perceived as more than mere sexual objects.

Well, she hoped this was worth it, at least.

As she put on her combat boots (because no, heels were totally out of the question, and she kind of had to look like a lost girl, so boots and heavy, dark makeup fit the narrative pretty well), she heard the doorbell ring only once, and she sighed heavily.

It was show time. 

“There was no need to ring the bell, you could have— Holy crap.” 

As she opened the door, any attempt of a normal conversation derailed inevitably in the moment Detective Solo’s scent invaded her lungs, making her mouth water.

He was looking at her, brow furrowed, huge shoulders covered in the black leather of his jacket. 

His whole figure stiffened. Probably her scent had spiked accidentally in response to his. Damn, this would be a very, very, very long week.

Back in the old days, communication between Alphas and Omegas was pretty easy and usually nonverbal.

If an Alpha liked your scent, and you liked theirs, you just knew what came next. But now—and Rey was, in a way, definitely thankful for that—there was civilization, and rules, and suppressants. That had surely made life far easier for Omegas, but it made the communication between the two designations far more awkward.

“Are you alright?” Solo asked. His deep, rumbly voice came out a bit strained.

Of course, he noticed. Very well, there was no point in lying at this point.

She offered him her most sarcastic smile. After all, even if he smelled good—very, very good—she could still hate him, right?

“Of course not,” she declared frankly, shrugging. “Shall we go?”

Rey knew Alphas pretty well. Well, not on an intimate level, but she had never reached that point with an Alpha for a very specific set of reasons. Most of them were entitled smug assholes with a giant ego who couldn’t even conceive the thought of an Omega not caring about their supposed authority at all. 

That was the main reason she expected Solo to snarl at her, or growl, just like Bane would have done. Instead, what she saw on that attractive, angular face was something near defeat. Resignation.

“Yeah, sorry, follow me.” He swallowed thickly, and for a moment she noticed his pulse was almost showing on his throat. He was tense, desperately so.

Normally, and she wasn’t especially proud of it, a part of her would have thrown a party after seeing an Alpha finally in distress, but she couldn't force herself to do so.

Detective Solo didn’t look proud of his current situation, or even smug about the impossibility of using suppressants. He always seemed on the verge of a breakdown, like his skin was always a few inches too small for his body, and he was about to burst.

She couldn’t help but remember the time when suppressants were a luxury she could rarely afford. She remembered the pain, the agony, the constant need, the tension. 

Was that the same for him? In that case, she had to admit, he was handling it pretty well.

As they entered his car, Rey couldn’t help but take at the design. She hadn’t worked on cars for a while, but when he finally started the engine, she instantly recognized that soft, barely audible sound.

“You drive a hybrid?” She felt ashamed of sounding that shocked.

Solo didn’t even look at her.

“Of course,” he remarked flatly. “I’m not a savage.”

That hit a bit far too close to home, and she lowered her gaze, embarrassment turning her cheeks bright pink. 

She almost startled as she heard the sharp noise of all four car windows going down, but the reason for that was pretty clear. Solo’s long fingers were pressing nervously on the buttons, he was holding his breath.

“I’m sorry,” she ended up murmuring despite herself.

“Not your fault.” Solo was keeping his voice as flat as possible. “I just want my suppressants back. I’m tired of thinking about sex all the time.”

That clearly had slipped by mistake out of his mouth—the sudden panic that showed on his face was proof enough of that—but for some reason Rey found herself giggling like a little girl. He was human, after all. It was almost reassuring to know.

“I think that even Betas do that,” she offered, trying to reassure him.

Again, she expected him to protest or look annoyed by her bluntness, but he didn’t. He was holding back a cautious smile as he looked at her out the corner of his eye.

It took her a second to realize that she was still smiling shamelessly, right at him. He sighed, his voice trembling with frustration.

“Can you just not smile like that?” There was nothing sarcastic about his tone, just something warm she couldn’t place. “You’re making things worse.” 

Rey could feel her cheeks run hot.

“Yeah, of course, sorry,” she muttered, wiping away that treacherous smile from her face. She just looked away, her eyes lost in the landscape around them as she kept fighting with her face for a while to make sure she wasn’t grinning.

Something was telling her that, after all, they might actually pull this off.

  
  
  


***   
  
  
As the car finally stopped, Rey realized that their scents shared a common, definitely evident trait at this point. They both smelled like fear. 

Solo covered his face with his hands for a long moment, then, as if that was the hardest thing to do, he turned in his seat to look straight at her. 

“Niima, give me your hands,” he requested. Rey furrowed her brow, but when he offered the wide palms of his hands, she complied.

As her far smaller ones landed in his, Solo sighed slightly, his breath shaky. In a moment, his huge paws guided her wrists toward his neck, landing her delicate skin right under his jawline, where his major scent glands were. 

Rey had to put all her efforts into not freaking out at the sudden contact. She could almost feel her skin on fire against his. He was warm, disturbingly warm there, and his pulse was furious under her touch. She perceived everything with a few seconds of stunned, intoxicating delay, and as she found herself looking at him, she realized that probably, things were way worse for him. 

Now that he was so close, she could notice how full his mouth was, parted and on the verge of panting, dark eyes looking lost as he stared into hers, brow furrowed in a subtle pleasure he was struggling to hide.

“I—I’m sorry but . . .” His voice came out gruff, strained,and incredibly deep, like he was barely in a condition to speak at the moment. “We’re supposed to smell like we’re already”—only a hint of hesitation as he wetted his lips—“intimate. Otherwise other Alphas will come for you.” 

Rey just nodded helplessly. On a purely rational level, she knew he was right. The whole plan depended on how she passed as a pliant, submissive Omega. This was just one step in that direction. It was just practical.

She had to force herself not to whimper in disapproval as she felt his hands leaving hers, but when she realized what he was about to do, she just bit her lip, furiously trying to fight against the anticipation.

The glands on her wrists were still pulsing helplessly against the ones on his neck when his huge hands reached for her jawline, far more gently than she imagined they might.

His thumbs were so large he had to land them on her cheeks, but when, finally, his wrist glands landed at the ones on her neck, she struggled to hold back a moan.

“I know,” Solo murmured, breathing harshly. “I’m sorry.”

“I-it’s okay.” Rey had to argue with her own brain to remember how to speak, and the truth was that somewhere deep down, she wasn’t sorry at all.

“My name is Rey, by the way.” It just rolled out of her mouth, like she needed something normal in this, something true.

He nodded.

“I know, I’ve read your file.” He tried to clear his throat without much success. “Ben.”

It was actually a very cute name. Cute in a way that almost didn’t fit him. 

“Do you remember our fake identities?” he asked, and Rey nodded, swallowing thickly.

“Are you ready?” 

She inhaled sharply, nodding again. 

“Very well.” 

Rey felt an actual lump in his chest as his hands left her face, breaking the contact. She felt compelled to do the same, but it was probably one of the hardest things she’d ever done.

Detective Solo sighed, lowering his gaze.

“We better go.”

  
  


***   
  
  
“Whatever you see, don’t react to it. I know it’s going to be hard, but please, our lives might depend on it.”   
  
Those were the last words Ben spoke to her as they walked toward Snoke’s villa.    
  
As she expected, the place was huge but far classier than she had imagined. She expected a flashy entrance with horrible fake-ancient styling, maybe some Omega in a skimpy maid dress waiting to greet them, but the place wasn’t like that at all.

The architecture was modern, all steel and glass, and the only people at the entrance were huge, buff Alpha bodyguards.

As they walked past them, Ben encircled her shoulders possessively, and she knew it was just part of the act, a statement of his dominance to make sure that every other Alpha knew she was taken. 

His arm, though, utterly betrayed his nervousness. It was stiff, like steel, and his fingers shook slightly against her skin. 

Yeah, of course, this wasn’t exactly in either of their comfort zones, but they couldn’t afford to look uncomfortable. They were in this together; they needed each other to survive.

Rey took a deep breath, and with a gentle, careful gesture sneaked her slender arm around his waist, under his leather jacket, nestling her far thinner frame in his imposing side.

“It’s all right,” she murmured, barely audible, as they approached the entrance gate. “We’ve got this.”

Ben took a second to adjust to the new contact, forcing his shoulders to relax. She could feel his back muscles loosening against her arm. 

His thumb gently stroked her collarbone in a brief gesture of gratitude as they entered the vast open space.

Rey had to restrain herself to not hide her face against Ben’s shirt. The smell in the air was overwhelming, and frankly, almost violating. 

There were at least twenty unsuppressed Alphas in the room, most of them sitting on couches, smoking cigars, drinking or simply with their hands between the legs of a few mated Omegas that didn’t seem disturbed by the idea of being ravaged in public.

Probably, considering how stunned they looked and how strongly they smelled, they were all in heat. All of them, in fact, seemed quite relieved by the contact. 

Some of them were even between their Alpha’s knees, mewling as they sucked eagerly at cocks Rey was clearly not ready to see, while the Alpha they were blowing keep drinking or discussing business with others like they weren’t even there.

She suppressed her initial urge to puke and looked away, her mouth clenched. 

So this is what they were doing to these people, bringing them to the point in which they were just barely sentient sex toys. Disgusting bastards.

The walk didn’t last long, and when they finally stopped, Rey could smell a disgusting, strong, chemical scent in the air. It was overpowering all the other scents in the room, probably on purpose.

“Ren, my boy!” a hoarse voice greeted them without a hint of joy. 

There, on the most luxurious couch of all, the tall, lean figure of an old man was sitting with a glass of scotch in his hand, the heads of two exhausted, disturbingly young Omegas resting against the expensive pants of his tailored suit. 

Aleister Snoke was even worse than Rey had imagined him. A skinny face devastated by scars and wrinkles, cold blue eyes devoid of any kind of emotion, thin, dry lips twisted in a pleased smirk.

His scent was almost revolting. Rey had read somewhere that old Alphas, when they could afford it, used enhancers to remain active even in old age. If this was what made Snoke’s scent so potent and fake, he was probably using a ton of those.

“Boss,” Ben returned the greeting blankly.

“What have we got here?” The older Alpha landed his eyes on Rey, and she couldn’t help but shiver in pure disgust as those empty, glacial orbs studied her mercilessly. “You’ve finally brought one. Pretty little thing you got here.”

His long, bony hand gestured her to come closer.

“Spin around for me, child.” 

Rey stiffened instantly at the request, but she took a deep breath through her mouth and complied, mentally cursing as she left Ben’s side to take a couple of steps toward Snoke. Slowly, unsurely, she started spinning. It was almost with a sigh of relief that she returned to Ben’s side as she finished.

“Good.” There was pure filth in Snoke’s approval; she could feel it in his words. “Sit with me, Kylo.”

Ben didn’t lose his composure as he moved toward the couch, taking Rey’s hand to make her follow him. 

He sat comfortably away from the older Alpha, and as she took her place on the couch beside him, he gathered her bare legs with one of his huge hands, landing them as gently as possible in his lap. 

The whole gesture almost took her breath away, and she couldn’t help but ask herself what the fuck he was doing, but as soon as she got a better look at all the other Omegas around them, she couldn’t help but notice that her proximity to Ben was mild by comparison.

“I’m glad you’re finally taking this thing seriously, Kylo,” Snoke declared after a long sip of Scotch. “It was about time.”

“What can I say, boss,” he explained lazily, the casual touch of his fingers on Rey’s skin making her squirm a little. “I’m picky.”

“You could have kidnapped one of those bitches, you know?” Snoke declared, as calm as if he was talking about picking flowers. “Consent is overrated. They all end up wanting it in the end. Anyway, I appreciate your good taste.” 

Rey could feel Ben’s arm going stiff around her shoulder, and she couldn’t help but relate. Rey landed a hand on Ben’s abdomen, almost soothingly, sure that there was a lump burning there that very much resembled her own.

“Thank you,” Ben muttered.

“You’re very welcome, boy,” Snoke replied casually. “Now, be a dear and show me how you and your pretty new friend get along, would you? I have to make sure that you’re not wasting my time.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I just put a cliffhanger in there? Yes, because I'm a horrible monster without a soul. 
> 
> Let me know what you think about this cruel mess <3 Thank you <3


	3. Chapter 3

It was like someone had just punched her right in the stomach. Rey froze helplessly as every tiny bit of air escaped her lungs and struggled to come back in. Around her, she could feel Ben’s whole body stiffening.

“I really don’t like sharing,” he stated, more aggressively than he should have.

“You’ll get used to it. After all, this is what every partnership is all about,” the older Alpha explained carelessly.

Rey gave a brief, exasperated look around. She knew exactly what Snoke expected of them; after all, she was just one among the many Omegas in the room, and almost all of them were currently busy pleasuring their Alphas or receiving invasive attention that normally would have been appropriate only in private.

Ben was rapidly turning into a tense, raging mess beside her, and she knew full well that mistakes weren’t allowed at this point. Ben needed Snoke’s trust, and, no matter how disgusting it was, she needed to pass as the mindless sex object this disgusting individual expected her to be. 

She shivered as the realization of what they needed to do reached its peak. Rey had to admit, with a hint of shame, that a part of her would have enjoyed the experience in different circumstances. 

Ben’s hand was clenched in a harsh fist on her leg when she took it gently.

Rey swallowed the lump in her throat when Ben found her eyes, and for a moment she was grateful Snoke couldn’t see his face from this angle.

He looked lost and young, on the verge of despair, even. His mouth reduced to a trembling, thin like as he looked right into her eyes.

In a way, his vulnerability was almost intoxicating. She was still surrounded by his warm, delicious scent, and she made sure to take it in as much as possible, inhaling deeply, close to his face. They had no choice. All she could do was to make this as uneventful as possible for both of them. His scent finally reached for her brain, making her dizzy, and she could almost feel her own pupils grow wide as her breath became uneven.

Then, after a barely noticeable nod, she slowly dragged his hand up her thighs, accompanying his fingers near her now aching, still-covered core.

After a long moment of pure, devastating hesitation, Ben lowered his gaze in shame, hiding his face against her neck, as his trembling fingers grazed hesitantly over the cotton of her panties.

“I’ll try to be as quick as possible,” he murmured against her skin, only for her to hear. 

Normally that statement wouldn't have been flattering at all, but there was nothing normal about that moment. This was just Ben trying to be kind, trying to ease her discomfort as much as possible. In a twisted, desperate way, she appreciated it. 

Rey nodded nervously against him, closing her eyes. Even if this was what she had to do, she would not allow herself to acknowledge where they were and who they were with. If she wanted to survive this, she needed to focus on him. Just him. On the warmth of his breath against her neck, the slight, nervous trembling in his hand as he moved her panties aside.

Her mouth fell slack as his long, thick fingers started exploring her. It was disturbing how wet she was despite the whole situation, and it must have shocked him too, because she could hear a low, surprised rumble deep in his throat that was more animal than human. 

The arm that encircled her shoulders tightened around her, and Rey found herself doing the same. Her hands clung to his neck as she nestled her face there, inhaling deeply at his scent gland, letting his scent overwhelm her, drag her away from everything else. 

As that ridiculously thick digit finally entered her cautiously, she barely recognized the undignified whine that escaped her mouth. Ben’s breath had become a mess against her neck, and what felt like a raging erection started pushing against her leg.

For a brief moment, she felt less guilty about the pleasure that was mounting in her core, accompanied by her heavy sighs as his hand kept pumping into her. He was putting effort into it, like he really wanted it to end quickly.

That was probably the reason his thumb had started moving too, finding her clit and rubbing it gently, making her back arch helplessly against him. 

Ben kept her in place, though, his ministrations steady and constant, as her tiny whines became more frequent. 

It was almost a race against time;Ben was surely moving it like it was. n a way, she was grateful for that, for his huge, solid body encircling hers, almost shielding her from everything around them, for his determination, for his hard cock against her leg. Sharing the shame made it easier to forget.

Rey had never been particularly loud during sex, but as Ben pushed her toward completion, pumping harder into her while his teeth grazed gently at the scent gland on her neck, she felt she might have screamed as her pleasure reached its sudden, unexpected peak.

It was like blacking out and being fully awake for the first time in her life. Rey didn’t know if all AO sex was like that, but her climax came on so potent and strong she almost forgot her name, her surroundings, even how to breathe. She was a messy, breathy bundle of nerves raging with pleasure and lust, hips thrusting helplessly against a hand that wasn’t even supposed to be there. 

When she finally came down, her whole body was shaking, and Ben continued to hold her against him, gentler now.

The first thing she saw as she opened her eyes was Ben’s sorrowful, devastated face as he looked at her.

It was like every last hint of dignity has been drawn out of his being, and she couldn’t help but feel incredibly sorry for him—for both of them. Neither of them deserved this. Neither of them deserved to have something so intimate and beautiful transformed into something so unhealthy, so wrong.

She was searching for something, anything comforting to say to him when she heard Snoke’s unimpressed voice speak again, making her shiver with disgust.

“Cute,” the older Alpha declared coldly. “You know the rules, Kylo. You have a week to stop her suppressants and mate her. You and your pet will be my guests tonight. We’ll discuss business tomorrow.”

  
  


***   
  
  
Rey’s blood was pumping so hard in her veins she could clearly hear the sound of her heartbeat as she forced herself to keep walking despite her wobbly legs. As she followed Ben’s urgent strides through the long, marble hallway, she mentally cursed those stupidly long legs. 

“Kylo!” she called him, despising the sound of his false name as it came out of her mouth. They still needed to be cautious, no matter how much she wanted to call him by his real name, that was a luxury neither of them could afford at the moment. 

“Kylo, please!” she insisted. She didn’t even care about sounding desperate at this point. her stomach clenched with guilt and shame for what had happened downstairs only minutes ago. 

No matter how fast he tried to walk away from her, his scent was so strong right now she couldn’t ignore it even if she wanted to. He smelled like pain, sex and fury, like a bomb ready to explode . . . and an explosion was the last thing they needed. 

He kept ignoring her, slamming the door open as he reached their room. He marched inside without even bothering to close it. 

When Rey finally came in, Ben’s hulking figure was already disappearing behind the bathroom door. 

“Wait, just wait, please!” 

Nothing, just a door firmly shut in her face. Rey inhaled sharply as her hands began to shake. The lingering sense of guilt and shame finally caught up to her, heavy as a ton of bricks. She had initiated it. It was her fault. No matter how horrible the situation was, she had taken into her hands matters that weren’t supposed to be hers. Intimate, private, violating matters. 

She remained still, horrified at herself, barely bracing her trembling figure against the door as she found herself sobbing—heavy, guilty sobs that turned her face into a teary, desperate mess.

“Please,” she cried helplessly, resting her forehead against the hard, cold surface of the door. “Please, I’m sorry.”

She could hear a deep, frustrated growl behind the door, and then it opened violently, almost smashing against the near wall. On the other side, Ben was looking at her with wide, burning eyes.

“Please, don’t do that.” It was disturbing how hurt his voice sounded despite the roaring need in his scent.

“Doing what?!” Rey’s frustration almost matched his at this point. She couldn’t even handle looking at him right now, even if, somewhere deep down, a very ancestral part of her wanted to soothe him and make sure he was fine. “This is all my fault, I- I shouldn’t have—”

Ben’s whole figure stiffened, becoming even more imposing as he looked at her, pure fury contracting every inch of his body.

A very insecure, frightened part of her feared he might snap and break something, maybe even break her, but instead he turned his back on her, hands balled into fists, walking into the nearby shower with all his clothes still on.

In a second the water had started flowing, cold and merciless, and despite the discomfort he must have felt Rey heard him sighing in what sounded like relief.

“Ben?” she muttered, barely audible, hesitant.

As he turned to look back at her, his eyes were warm and desperate, his mouth twisted into a pout that would have looked ridiculous on the lips of any other adult on the planet, but looked extremely fitting and heartbreaking on him.

“Ben, I’m so sorry,” Rey repeated.

“Stop it,” His voice sound gruff and slightly aggressive, but the edge of it melted into something weaker, sadder as he kept speaking. “Stop saying that, please.”   
  
Rey took a deep, shaky breath, looking away.

“I am, though.”

The noise escaping Ben’s mouth was somewhere between a growl and a whine.

“It’s not your fault,” he barely murmured. “All of this happened because of me, because of this stupid plan. I was supposed to protect you, to make sure nothing would happen to you, and the exact opposite happened in the first ten minutes we were here.”

So that was what was going on in his head. He wasn’t mad at her, not entirely at least. He was furious at himself.

Rey gave him a long, inquisitive look as she studied his features: long, damp hair, the water still flowing down the soft planes of his cheekbones and his long nose. Thanks to the water, his scent was milder, slightly less invasive. 

It was almost disturbing how handsome he looked, vulnerable, and raw.

She found herself swallowing, lowering her gaze to keep herself as focused as possible as she spoke.

“It’s not your fault, or my fault for that matter,” she finally admitted. “We did what we had to. Besides, you’re not here to protect me. We’re here to help each other solving a case. We’re here to do our duty, and our duty is to save people. I don’t regret what happened.” she hesitated, mouth trembling slightly, “I mean, I know this is not ideal, and that maybe all this requires a level of intimacy between us that neither of us expected or was ready for. But you’re my colleague, my partner, and I trust you. I knew infiltrating this place would be challenging, both mentally and physically, but well . . . if doing what we did will actually gain you better access to the evidence we need, it was worth it.”

Rey barely registered the shift in her own expression—her squared jaw, the defiant, firm look in her eyes as she looked at him. 

Ben sighed heavily, then let himself fall like a limp, lifeless puppet, sitting on the shower tray with a frustrated groan, huge hands covering his face.

Very well; this was more than enough. They couldn’t allow themselves to be hesitant, to be scared. Besides, there was something inside her urging to fix things, to make things work between them, not only on a professional level. 

With a heavy, determined sigh, she took off her boots and entered the shower, nearly squealing as the ice-cold water hit her. 

“Dammit,” she muttered, forcing her teeth not to chatter. “It’s cold,.

“W-what are you doing?” 

“I’m trying to support my partner,” she explained, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. As she sat beside him, the contrast between the warm side of his body and the coolness of the water made her shiver.

“It’s so bloody cold,” she muttered to herself between gritted teeth.

“I’m sorry,” he admitted without looking at her. “I really need to… Ease the tension.”

The hesitance in his voice made perfectly clear what kind of tension he was talking about, and Rey forced herself to not react to it, even if a very primal, intense part of her was actually a little proud of herself. That same part of her was instantly smashed under a ton of bricks of shame and shoved somewhere under the rug of her rational mind.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured a few moments after he spoke “I wish you didn’t have to go through this.”

“Not your fault,” Ben muttered, trying to adjust his position to give her more space on the shower tray. The gesture was clumsy, but Rey didn’t miss the wince of pain he tried to hide on his face. “Okay, maybe a little your fault.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, barely thinking and gaining only an embarrassed stare in return, right before Ben looked away in shame. 

Oh, of course. She was an idiot. Unsuppressed Alpha, this close to an Omega with a compatible scent he had ended being quite intimate with. She was an idiot, a total idiot. 

Rey tried hard to not take a look at his crotch, even if the animal part of her brain really wanted to.

“I’m sorry,” she babbled “I’m an idiot.”

“Can you stop saying that, please?”

“Do you want me to go away?”

Ben sighed heavily, throwing his head back, leaning on the tile wall behind them,.

“I don’t think it would change anything,” he admitted. “I- We’re far beyond that.”

The fact was that Rey—maybe because of her rough upbringing, maybe because of her practical, straightforward nature—rarely felt the need to blush or avoid discussing things that were better left unsaid. Right now, beside her, there wasn’t just a random, horny Alpha; he was her colleague, her partner, going through something terrible and painful she could somehow relate to. 

She cleared her throat.

“Maybe I should leave you some alone time to take care of yourself,” she suggested.

Beside her, Ben’s frame shuddered visibly.

“Are we really discussing this?” he rumbled deep in his throat, his voice sounding hoarse as he closed his eyes.

Rey sighed heavily. All she could think about was her lonely, painful heats as a teenager, when she didn’t manage to work enough to convince Plutt to pay for her suppressants. She still remembered her pain so vividly she couldn’t help but close her eyes, shivering, somewhere between ache and panic. Nobody should have found themselves in that position; nobody should have faced the pain of fighting against their own nature alone. 

“Listen, I get it, this is awful. But you’re no longer alone in this. I’m your partner, and we should be able to discuss this, even if it’s complicated. It might be embarrassing but, hey, apparently our genitals are heavily involved in this mission already, so the least we can do is behave like adults and be open about it.”

Rey was surprised by the firmness of her own voice.

Ben just covered his face with his hands, groaning in frustration against his palms. He actually didn’t move for a few long seconds, long enough that Rey was actually tempted to touch his arm to see if he was capable of any kind of reaction. Before she could do that, he lowered his head, defeated.

“I hate this,” he muttered without looking at her, his mouth clenched in a thin line.

“You have every right to,” she reassured him with a calm nod.

“And then what?” Ben’s laugh was so bitter it almost sounded like a groan. “My hate is not going to make this go away. My hate is not going to make suppressants magically appear in front of me. My hate is not going to make you smell worse.”

The last part came out almost reluctantly. 

Rey closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she palmed some water off her face. She moved to her knees, almost facing him. 

“Ben, I really think you can use some alone time, without Omega scent nearby.”

She was about to climb to her feet when she heard his response.

“It doesn’t work like that.”

Rey frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“It means that, even if I decide to try and get some relief myself, it’s not going to last. My hand doesn’t have the proper set of glands my body needs to cool things off.”

There was so much shame on Ben’s face, she could almost feel a lump growing in her throat. She couldn’t distinguish anymore between the embarrassment reddening his face and the distinct, physical unease that was turning his pale skin into a broad, messy blush.

Even his breath was growing more and more uneven by the second.

Rey’s mouth contracted into a thin line the second the realization hit her. Ben was in evident pain at this point, and her stare had fallen almost casually on her own wrist, where one of her minor scent glands was. 

She swallowed thickly, the brutal hit of reality punching her right in the stomach. 

Rey clenched her hand once, twice, then turned her head to face him.

“Pants and underwear, take them off,” she stated as firmly as possible despite the aggressive pool of panic growing in her chest.

The look Ben gave her almost killed her. He looked hurt, shocked, incredibly sorry.

“Stop it,” he muttered, but it was more of a plea.

“Ben, you look like you’re on the verge of a heart attack,” she insisted. “Plus, we’ve been under this bloody cold shower for twenty minutes at least, and you’re not getting better.”

“I- I don’t want you to do it,” he insisted, almost panting at this point. “It’s not your responsibility. I’ll just stay here and wait, and at some point I’ll pass out like I always do when this happens and I’ll be fine after I wake up,”

It definitely disturbed her how normal that statement sounded from him, as if passing out in pain was actually a reasonable solution.

“Ben, I won’t let you pass out,” Rey stated, a bit more aggressively than she intended. A shiver ran through her spine; she decided not to investigate if the icy water from the shower was causing it or something else. “You had your fingers in my vagina literally minutes ago. I think we’ve passed that point already.”

His response was just a low, desperate growl.

”Listen, I get it,” she continued, swallowing thickly. “We don’t know each other, and trust me, I know how horrible this might look from the outside, how clichè. You might be an Alpha, but I’m an Omega, and I’ve spent all my life being perceived as a victim of my urges. This scares you, I get it, but I swear, I will not judge you for this. This is not who you are, and it’s not your fault, I just need you to trust me.”

Ben’s whole body was contracting now, shaking slightly as his desperate eyes looked into hers. Rey returned his look, resolute and reassuring. 

He lowered his gaze, defeated, and when his trembling hands reached for his belt, Rey felt almost relieved, closed her eyes for a moment, silently thanking the chilling water falling on them for keeping their scents barely detectable. 

He wasn’t looking at her as he freed himself from his pants, exposing only what was strictly necessary, but Rey couldn’t help but stare. 

Detective Solo was definitely proportionate, and the sight of his raging, imposing erection made her lower belly clench helplessly for a second. It would have been easy to indulge, to just take advantage of the situation, but she wasn’t there for her own pleasure, even if her brain didn’t seem to remember that. 

She forced herself to push away her own arousal, shivering as she inhaled sharply. 

Rey thanked science for her suppressants and took a second, more analytic look at it. Her brow furrowed with concern.

She had seen her fair share of penises in her life—well, of course—and they rarely belonged to an Alpha, but Ben’s looked… Worrying. 

His cock looked redder than it should have, the thick veins on his length pulsing almost visibly, his knot, right at the base, already full and throbbing. 

“Fuck, it looks—” She had to force herself not to say something desperately wrong, like amazing, enticing, delicious . . . “Painful.”

“It is,” Ben admitted in a disgruntled moan, avoiding her gaze as his whole body kept shaking.

“You managed to get like this in minutes?” Rey knew this wasn’t the right thing to say, but she couldn’t help it.

“No,” he grunted, “I’ve been like this since the car.”

Rey lowered her gaze, forcing the embarrassment out of her system. Her hand raised slowly, cautiously, Ben’s gaze following her movements with something that resembled panic on his face. When her hand finally landed under his jaw, gently raising his chin to make him look at her, he complied hesitantly.

“I’m going to use my hand,” she explained, as calmly as possible, “and the gland on my wrist. Is that okay?”

He nodded almost frantically.

It was awkward at first, as Rey searched for the most comfortable position on the small shower floor. She just knelt between his open legs, taking a deep breath as one of her slender arms comfortingly cradled his huge shoulders. 

Her face found the crook of his neck. His scent was intense there, devastating, mouthwatering despite the cold shower flowing over them. 

“It’s going to be alright,” she hummed as gently as possible as her hand finally touched him, her hesitant fingers encircling his hard cock. He seemed to forget how to breathe for a long moment.

His skin was burning there, the stone-solid flesh pulsing already against her palm. As she squeezed him gently for the first time, she heard him moan loudly, his forehead against her shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to visit HarpiaHarpyja and read her amazing fics <3 She's an amazing beta and an incredibly talented author aswell <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special thanks to the sweetest person around, who is such a supportive, amazing friend and an excellent beta <3 Thank you HarpiaHarpyja <3

Rey swallowed, channeling her determination into her hand, and as she started moving it up and down his length, she felt his shoulder contracting spasmodically under her other arm, his mouth tightening to hold back a loud grunt. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed his huge hands clenching into fists as he pushed them against his side, clearly trying not to move them too much. 

A part of her was heartbroken by the sight of him in such pain, and her mouth ached to kiss his cheek for a long moment, desperate to offer him some comfort besides the physical one, but she decided not to. He needed something else right now.

The pace of her hand increased, her grip on him growing firmer, and for a distinct, clear instant, she almost heard him moaning her name against her shoulder. 

“Rey,” he pleaded, raw and low, “Rey-I-”

“It’s okay,” she murmured gently, sympathetically, her free hand reaching for his damp hair. She knew what she had to do; she had to return the favor if she wanted his suffering to end soon. Softly, gingerly, Rey opened her mouth, her teeth grazing the scent gland under his ear. At the same time she twisted her wrist just enough so that her tiny scent gland there was touching the base of his knot.

His hips bucked accidentally into her hands as a loud, uncontained growl escaped his mouth. She realized a second too late she had overstimulated him, because now his hands had reached for her shoulders, unexpectedly pushing her out of the shower,. A moment later they were a confused, wet tangle of limbs on the bathroom floor, his weight on top of her, her hands still holding his cock between their flushed bodies.

It must have been so instinctual that Ben realized what had happened after a slight delay, because now he was looking at her with wide eyes, jaw hanging, and a distinct hint of dread on his angular, aroused features.

“I-I’m so sorry.” His voice was barely human as he tried to speak.

She was about to respond, but between his body almost crushing hers, and his scent spiking now that they were out of the shower, filling her lungs and making her mouth and eyes water, she only managed to look at him with wide, dilated eyes. 

Rey had to fight with herself to not beg him to fuck her, and not because she didn’t want to. He, on the other hand, was in no position to refuse. She needed to calm down for them both.

She closed her eyes, ignoring the distinct and unbearable ache burning between her legs. 

“Don’t be,” she murmured, hiding her face in the crook of his neck as her hand resumed her motion on his cock, squeezing it tightly this time as he moaned and trembled on top of her. “It’s alright. Soon you’re going to be fine.” 

His hips pushed forcefully against her hand once again, and Rey couldn’t help but ask herself how it would have been to feel his knot thrusting deep inside her wet, aching cunt instead of her hand. Her mouth parted, her breath shaking as she let his scent intoxicate her. 

It must have felt almost the same for Ben, because his nostrils were flared, and she could feel his uneven, messy breath against her shoulder.

“Oh, fuck,” he growled, the low rumble of his voice muffled by her shirt. “Fuck, I’m close.”

A part of her was relieved for him, that his suffering was about to end; another, her most feral, instinctual part, almost panicked at the thought of no longer having him on top of her.

Rey bit her own lower lip hard enough to hurt, pushing the thought away, forcing herself to remember that this wasn’t about her. 

“Do you need me to bite your neck again?” she murmured. Her voice was little more than a messy, heated whisper, and she merely registered that she had turned her head toward him, speaking. She only realized when she found Ben’s face just inches away from hers, wide, hungry eyes looking straight at her lips, his plush mouth parted and panting.

The last inch of control must have slipped away from his grasp, because his mouth was assaulting hers now, demandingly, deeply, in a kiss so rough and wild that neither of them could have been prepared.

She shivered openly, mewling as his insistent tongue found his way into her mouth, dragging hers into an urgent, violent dance that left her breathless. Rey should have known better, should have avoided that further moment of intimacy neither of them had expected, but she just couldn’t. She was just too busy taking his tongue obediently, gently humming her need in his mouth, as his cock kept thrusting in her hand at a frantic pace. 

The kiss suddenly turned into a bite as Ben’s teeth attacked her lips, her jaw, and every inch of skin in between, his breath heavy against her cheek. 

“Oh, fuck,” he repeated, more desperate now, and something in his voice turned her ragged breath in a proper whimper. “-Fuck, Rey, your voice-”

He didn’t manage to finish his sentence because his whole imposing body had suddenly grown tense on top of her, his hips spasming as his climax hit him with brutal force. 

Rey could feel his cock pulsing in her grasp, the wet, warm trace of his spend landing on her shirt, and she couldn’t help but gasp, eyes closed as she tried to catch her breath. Ben’s body relaxed on top of hers, his head falling on her shoulder. 

For some weird, infuriating, and surely biological reason, she felt a distinct yet disturbing comfort at having him on top of her. It was probably why when he moved away, rolling on his back beside her, she felt an irritating sense of loss that she refused to acknowledge as her own. 

Rey gave Ben a sideways look, investigating his current status as cautiously as possible. His breath was slowing down, finally; and, well, his erection was finally giving him some rest. Problem solved. Sort of. 

Yeah, because  _ of course _ she didn’t expect that kind of delicious intensity from him. Even the kiss had been overwhelmingly good. Even if it had been a clear loss of control on his behalf. 

This was ridiculous. She wasn’t supposed to like him so much. It was highly unprofessional. It was even more unprofessional that her body was still aching desperately for more, unsated, forcing her to close her legs tighter to try and keep her scent and her tension away.

She was so focused on getting a grip on herself that it took her a minute to notice the devastated, lost stare Ben was directing toward the ceiling. 

He covered his face with his hands, almost growling in frustration against his palms.

“This is so fucked up.”.

“It’s okay,” she hummed, trying to keep her voice steady. “It’s over now.”

“I shouldn’t have allowed you to do this,” Ben continued, sounding disturbingly broken. “I’m your commanding officer here, I should protect you, not take advantage of your biology.”

Normally his tone, the despair in his eyes, would have turned her into a sorry puddle of sympathy, but Rey was still too shocked and too horny to think straight. 

She sighed heavily, clearly frustrated.

“This protection thing? Again? Ben, seriously, I’m a trained officer. I can take care of myself.”

He was tucking himself back into his pants now.

“You’re a trained officer under my command,” he continued, his voice turning tense and dark, “who I just forced into giving me a handjob to deal with a mess I wasn’t able to prevent.”

“You didn’t force me to do anything.” It was almost disturbing how easily those words came out of her mouth. She cleared her throat. “Circumstances did.”

“And I had my hands in your underwear less than half an hour ago.”

“Again, circumstances.”

“Circumstances I wasn’t able to prevent. I’ve put you at risk, and this is exactly what Dameron asked me not to do.”

Rey’s mouth clenched into a thin line. If her usual primal instincts had been mostly linked to her sexual response, the deep sensation of rage that was now boiling in her stomach was something entirely different yet just as urgent.

She sat up, giving him a sharp look.

“Is that what this is?” she hissed at him. “Is this because I’m an Omega?”

Beside her, Ben froze, weakly turning his head to give her a pained look.

“Of course not.”

“Maybe it’s just your Alpha brain. You said to another Alpha that you would not damage his property, and now you’re upset cause you think you did.”

His warm, dark eyes went wide in shock.

“I never said that. I could never think any of that. I don’t consider you your captain’s property, Rey.”

“Why are you so worried about me, then?” She had to keep her voice low, so it turned rapidly into a furious hiss. “Tell me—exactly when did I give you the impression of not being ready to do whatever is necessary? When did I give you the impression that I’m some sort of victim you’re putting in an uncomfortable position to achieve your goal? I’m good at my job. I can improvise. I’m a quick learner. And not  _ once  _ in my life have I shied away from doing the right thing, no matter the cost. The way you perceive me is your problem, Detective, not mine.” 

She rose on her feet, marched toward the shower, and entered it, shivering visibly under the cold water still flowing.

“Now, if you will excuse me, I’m the one in need of this.”

Ben said nothing as he stood up. He didn’t even look at her as he stalked out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Literally seconds later, as she tried to focus on the icy sensation of the water calming her needs, Rey closed her eyes and sighed heavily. She heard the loud noise of something being smashed against a wall in the room outside.

  
  


***

When she finally came out of the bathroom almost an hour later, Rey took a few cautious steps into the room, her bare feet sinking gingerly into the carpet as she looked around. 

She avoided a few shards of porcelain—probably from the lamp shattered against the wall a few feet away— on her way to the king-sized bed at the center of the room.

Ben was there, silent and immobile, face unreadable, eyes lost as he stared at the ceiling. 

It would have been an almost peaceful scene if it wasn’t for the distinct tension in his scent and the blood on his knuckles.

“I figured you would be greatly offended if I offered to leave the bed to you,” he stated flatly without looking at her.

Rey shrugged, not knowing what to do with this information.

“Being embarrassed about sharing a bed after what happened would have been pretty ridiculous,” she admitted.

“Glad to know that we’re, at last, on the same page,” he murmured, sounding disturbingly defeated.

Rey sat down , giving him a brief look out of the corner of her eye as she finally allowed her legs to rest in a more comfortable position. 

“I think you’ll only be angry if I tried to apologize again,” Ben murmured beside her with just a thin, low rumble.

Rey sighed heavily, letting herself fall onto the mattress beside him. Their instinct had been sated for now, apparently, and as their scents remained dormant, quiet as they mingled peacefully in the air of the room, her eyes landed on the ceiling too.

For some reason, the whole discomfort, that unsettling sense of being trapped, reminded her of her many years in the dusty basement of Plutt’s workshop, when her only shield was her own mind.

She cleared her throat hesitantly.

“When I was a child, I spent a lot of time feeling stuck, unworthy, barely human. There was nothing I could do back then. The only thing I had to cope were my own thoughts, my own will,” she swallowed thickly. It was ridiculous how such topics could make her voice tremble, even after years. “There was a method I used. Maybe we could try, if you want.” 

She noticed Ben’s head turning to look at her, his untamed mop of raven hair splayed on the pillow, a few undisciplined strands finding their place on his cheek.

“What did you do?” It was weird, how genuinely interested he sounded despite the absolute lack of resolve in his voice.

“I just pretended.” She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. “And in a moment I was someone else, living a different life, away from everything I knew, everything that made me feel unwanted and desperate. I could be anyone I wanted, do anything I wanted, and for a brief time I had the chance to imagine how it would have been to be happy,”

Ben, beside her, didn’t look particularly convinced.

“I’ve never been very… imaginative,” he admitted.

“It’s okay,” she murmured, a tiny, tired smile appearing on her face. “I can do that for you, if you want.”

She felt him turning on his side beside her, his huge hands cradling his pillow as he probably tried to get more comfortable.

“Okay,” he murmured after a while. 

“Let’s see.” Rey turned her head slightly to give him a brief look, her jaw working as she let her mind wander. “Your name is … Francis.”

His brow knitted.

“I don’t look like a Francis, I’m afraid.”

She shot him a mildly annoyed look.

“Will you let me do my job or what?”

  
“Okay.”

“Good. Well.” She cleared her throat, looking back at the ceiling again. “ Your name is Francis, you’re forty-one.”   
  
“Hey-”   
  
“Thirty-four?”

“Better.”   
  
“And you work as a writer for a very important food network. You love sudoku, hiking, and board games. You also hate contemporary art, airports and waiting in line.”

“I sound like a douche,” Ben admitted, looking slightly amused.

“You can be a bit of a pain in the ass, yeah,” Rey confirmed, “but you’re quite nice.”

He cleared his throat hesitantly.

“And why is Francis in a bed with you, Rey?” he asked in a very low, small voice, guilt still dripping from his tone.

Rey looked around for a moment, searching for something to say. It was clear enough that Ben couldn't forgive himself for what happened, but maybe tonight, just for tonight, they could look at all of it in a different light, a normal light, a nice light.

“Well, of course, Francis has a girlfriend,” she started without looking at him,.“ Her name is Amanda, and she’s currently writing her first book, but her editor is giving her a lot of shit.”

“What is the book about?” Ben asked softly.

“Science-fiction. Amanda is a bit of a geek.”

“Clearly.”

“They met in college, but Francis was too shy to ask Amanda out, so she had to do all the work,” — Rey could actually hear him snort at this point — “but they’re happy now. They live in a nice apartment in Chandrila.”

“Uh, posh.”   
  
“I know. And they have two cats. Mr. Meowington, an orange tabby, and Mrs. Muffin, a calico, and of course they foster rescued kittens when they can.”

Ben looked hesitant beside her, like somewhere, deep within, a part of him urged him to smile, to play along, but something far heavier was holding him back.

“Are you sure that Francis is the right person for Amanda?”

Rey refused, for her own sake, to acknowledge any kind of hidden meaning in that. They were only playing; there wasn’t much else to it. She cleared her throat. Her pointy nose scrunched just a little.

“You know, it was a bit complicated at first. Amanda has three older brothers, they all play rugby and they’re all seven feet tall. They really wanted to kick Francis’s ass at first — you know how Alpha brothers can be with their baby Beta sisters.”

“Is Francis a Beta too?” 

There was a hint of worry in his voice.

“Of course.” Rey nodded casually. “They don’t know shit about pheromones, scents, heats and ruts.”

“That sounds nice,” Ben admitted.

“I know,” she agreed, holding back a wince. “They’re disgustingly happy and carefree. They’re planning on buying a house and getting married as soon as Amanda’s book is out.”

She could hear him swallow in the dim light of the room.

“Has Francis ever forced Amanda into doing something she didn’t want to?”   
  
He sounded almost broken as he hid part of his face against the pillow, and Rey could feel her heart sinking in her chest. She took a deep breath, her slender hand searching gently for his much bigger one. 

Ben seemed to hesitate at first, but when her fingers tried to tangle with his, he didn’t protest. 

“No, of course not,” she murmured softly. “Well, they’ve tried bondage a couple of times and that didn’t go so well, but it was Amanda’s idea and they ended up laughing about it.”

A tiny, barely visible hint of a smile turned up the corner of his mouth.

“They seem very happy,” he admitted, sounding almost astonished by his own statement.

She squeezed his hand reassuringly.

“I’m sure they are.” 

“Rey?”

“Yes?” 

Rey heard him inhaling sharply. is hand, still in her gentle grasp, shook slightly. As he spoke again, his voice sounded broken and on the verge of tears. It was an odd sound, deep and pained.

“Do Francis and Amanda hug sometimes, before falling asleep?”

The sorrow and despair in his tone made him sound disturbingly younger, so fragile that Rey’s stomach instantly became a warm, twisted tangle of nerves, pain and sympathy.

She opened her arms, comfortingly, like it was the most normal thing to do.

“Of course they do. Come here.” 

He snuggled closer, and his massive form struggled a bit as he nestled against her side. Still stiff and visibly nervous, Ben made the wise choice of not putting his head in the crook of her neck, right under her gland. Instead he casually laid his cheek on her collarbone. As his thick arm gingerly encircled her torso, Rey found herself sighing in something that resembled relief. In less than a second her fingers were in his hair, and she could slowly feel him relax as she started running gently her digits there.

“I’m so sorry,” he grunted helplessly, almost sobbing.

“It’s alright,” she hummed, closing her eyes. “You know, the first week they were together, Francis and Amanda were always a bit awkward around each other. They were too shy to communicate well, to establish boundaries, to say how they really felt ... but look at them now.”

She couldn’t help but smile a little as her free arm circled his shoulders.

“Look how happy they are, cuddling on their bed, in their beautiful apartment in Chandrila.” She felt him sobbing a bit louder against her collarbone, despite his attempt to hide it. “I’m sure they’ve never been so in love, so happy. I’m sure they’re going to be okay.” 

His face nuzzled gently against her, and she could feel something cold and wet landing there, tiny silent tears he was unable to hold back.

“Rey?” 

“Yes?”

“Can you tell me more about Mr. Meowington and Mrs. Muffin? Are they good cats? Do they like cuddles?”

It took her a long moment to realize how actually wide her smile was.

“Of course.”

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to warn you: this chapter contains some pretty triggering stuff. I tried to keep it as less graphic as possible, but the content can still be challenging to read. I need you to know, though, that none of this is written for the morbid need of being disrespectful to people who had actually endured this horror, t's instead a way to acknowledge that things like this unfortunately exist, and even if this is only a silly work of fiction, mine is just a way to underline how important the discourse on consent really is. Even if this is just a stupid fic on the internet, I really wanted to make this clear. Thanks for reading.

Getting out of bed that morning was probably the hardest thing Ben Solo had done in the last few months, and considering that his last few months had been spent in a human trafficking organization as a minor goon, that was kind of a shocking realization.

Maybe it was because his low rank had put him in a position that wasn’t heavily involved with the more nefarious activities of the cartell. He didn’t do much beyond taking orders, surveilling deliveries and generally be a silent, irrelevant bodyguard. 

Now though, now that he had brought an Omega into the organization, things were about to change. His heart clenched as his eyes lingered on Rey’s sleeping form. It was almost unfair how peaceful she looked in her sleep, but even more unfair was how good she smelled. 

Her scent reminded him of the ocean he used to visit every summer when he was a child; of the hesitant sweetness of his first kiss, when he was still a highschool kid; like warm, salted caramel; Christmas; and sex, a lot of sex. It was indeed the most intoxicating and confusing scent he’d ever smelled in his life, and he needed to be extremely careful about it. Even if Rey had proved herself capable of enduring almost anything if necessary, even far more than he wished, he had to remind the most primal part of his brain that this was not a relationship — this was a collaboration.

She wasn’t there to be with him, to let him hold her, fuck her, protect her. She was there to be an invaluable asset in an operation far too important for them to get distracted. For some reason the thought of all that proximity, that intimacy being a lie, a necessary part of the façade they had to put on, was almost painful. 

It didn’t feel fake at all, and that was killing him. The unfairness of it was making his heart clench. Normally, in any other situation, a woman like Rey — resourceful, clever, full of light — wouldn’t have spared a second glance for a man like him. He was painfully aware of that. It felt so, so wrong to have dragged her into something like this.

He had to stop himself from kissing the crown of her sleeping head before he left the room, but when he finally did, he allowed himself a deep, calming breath. Snoke wanted to talk to him, and the show had to go on. He owed it to Rey at this point.

It had been quite disappointing to find out that Snoke didn’t want to meet him in his office. Ben had put some hidden microphones in there a few weeks ago, with very few results, but maybe his presence there, his questions, could have changed things. Unfortunately he didn’t have the chance to try right now. 

Snoke wanted to meet him in the basement. 

As he walked down the stairs, the air in his lungs grew heavier with every step. Whatever was happening behind the closed door in front of him, Omegas were surely involved. 

Cody, a big Alpha bodyguard he had worked with a couple of times, greeted him with a brief nod, wearing what looked like a gas mask. He handed him the same sort of mask before opening the door. Ben put it on hesitantly. 

Inside he discovered the most intense and revolting mix of scents he had ever smelled in his life. Being unsuppressed, he surely would have struggled without that mask, but even with it, the experience was almost overwhelming. There were many different scents there, mingling, mixing, smashing against each other, dominating each other.    
  
It took him a second more than it should to realize what was happening down there.

“Suppressant-based filters,” Snoke’s careless voice explained, a few meters away, making his head turn in surprise.

The office wasn’t particularly big, or luxurious; there was just a very long carpet of synthetic grass, Snoke’s golf bag, and many, many doors, which were the major source of noise in the room. Only now he heard the confused, overwhelmed whines of Omegas, alternating with the intense grunts and growl of what sounded like Alphas. 

How many were they? There were at least eight doors, and he hoped that not all of them were occupied. 

Ben could feel his stomach contracting in protest, urging him to throw up, but the worst part was yet to come. One of the two Alphas apparently finished in a loud, disgusting growl. 

He could almost hear the sound of flesh breaking from what was probably a bite mark, and the Omega receiving it exhaling a discomforted, confused whine. 

Ben struggled to keep the contents of his stomach inside as he saw the freshly mated Omega being thrown out of that small door so that her Alpha could grab another one. Her expression shifted from confusion to what looked like an absolute, dumbfounded bliss as the hormones released from the bite mark kicked in. Her pupils were blown wide enough to turn her eyes from green to black asan absent, creepy smile appeared on her face.

He thanked the mask for partially hiding his expression.

  
  


“What’s going on?” he asked, asif he didn’t know. 

He knew exactly what he was looking at. This was rape. Utter and proper rape. He was quite sure that none of the Omegas in those rooms were consenting to receive a mating mark, but he was sure neither Snoke or the other Alphas in those rooms cared.

The smell and the sounds were revolting, and he had to keep himself from jumping at those Alpha bastards and painting the walls with their bains. This was going to end soon. He needed to keep his façade up; he owed it to Rey.    
  
If Snoke found out about him, his dead body would be floating in the Alderaan River in hours, leaving his young Omega partner in the hands of an organization that would gladly do to her the same things that were being done to these poor women.

But what if, at some point, he was expected to do this to her? The thought made him almost dizzy, all the blood in his body running in pure fury to his head as he squared his shoulders stiffly.

No. He would do everything in his power not to put himself or Rey in that position.

“Haven’t you heard?” Snoke asked almost casually beside him. “Police found out about one of our warehouses, the one near the port. We’ve lost twelve Omegas. They were all Mark’s and Carl’s, so I’m sending them out of town for a while, in case cops manage to find their genetic markings on those stupid bitches.”

Ben’s focused his gaze on the golf club in Snoke’s long, bony hands. As that surreal, repulsive scene continued behind closed doors, the old Alpha just stayed there, planting his feet properly on the carpet under him, the tiny, white ball sitting in front of him. As if he were in an ordinary, fancy golf circle, he hit the ball with the club. He even found the time to smirk as the ball entered the teacup on the floor, on the other side of the room.

Ben forced his shoulders not to stiffen. His eyes fell on the mated Omega in the room, being promptly carried away by another Alpha, probably toward a lab like the one Rey had found. 

It occurred to him just then that it was likely none of the Alphas in those rooms, the Alphas perpetuating those repulsive acts, had even bothered to knot the Omegas before mating them. Maybe it would have taken too much time and effort, but for some reason that lack of even the slightest acknowledgment of the Omegas’ basic human needs was driving him borderline insane. On a conscious level, he knew perfectly well that none of those Omegas would have rationally appreciated being knotted by one of those brutes, but knotting was one of the few surviving social rituals for AOs, something almost sacred. It was an act of bonding, caring, something irrefutable between mates. 

But none of this was about bonding, about caring. This was abuse, for profit and nothing else. 

“So we’re stocking up,” he said, trying to hide his disgust. 

“Precisely,” Snoke confirmed, giving him an uncaring nod. “And since Mark and Carl are unavailable at the moment, I have good news for you. A vacancy has been created by recent events. This might be your time to shine, boy.”

Ben said nothing, trying to conceal the shiver of revulsion running down his spine.

“I need you to be ready in an hour,” the older Alpha continued. “Needless to say that your Omega is not allowed to just wander around while she’s not under your direct supervision. You can put her with the others.”

He stiffened visibly, totally unable to hide his dicomfort this time. Snoke noticed, but his only reaction was a smug, knowing smile.

“No need to make a fuss, boy,” he humored him. “We’re a family, here. Nobody is going to touch your things while you’re away,.”

  
  


***   
  
  
When Ben finally reached their room, he had to force himself to open the door, and his large hand shook slightly as he finally allowed himself to touch the doorknob.

How could he face Rey after what he had seen? How could he look her straight in the eyes, knowing that he had looked at Omegas being mated against their will and done nothing? Consciously, he was painfully aware of the rules. His intervention would eventually have led to the discovery of his and Rey’s true intentions, their probable death and the collapse of the whole investigation. 

None of them needed that, especially not the Omegas in the basement. They needed saving, they needed justice, and neither of those things would last long if achieved through a moment of overwhelming yet mindless violence.

As he entered the room, Rey’s scent filled his nostrils in less than a second, the sweet, fresh layers of her smell, the soft notes of flowers, lemon and salt giving him only a hint of the comfort he really needed.   
  
She was sitting on the bed in her tiny, disturbingly distracting dress, clearly waiting for him.

She raised her head, giving him a look far too full of expectation for him not to feel even guiltier than he did already.

“They’re… restocking.”

He barely recognized his voice; it was too strained.

He could read the clear confusion on Rey’s face, and then the crude, raw horror that appeared on her features as soon as she realized what he meant. 

She almost jumped to her feet, her hands restless as her sides.

“Do they want me to-”   
  
“No, they didn’t ask me yet,” he interrupted, desperate not to hear her say those words out loud. “I’m afraid they will, eventually, but for now, nobody asked.”

Rey just nodded, her mouth turning into a thin, pained line.

“I’m supposed to run some errands for Snoke today,” Ben continued, “something more significantthan usual. Apparently he decided to get rid of the Alphas responsible for the Omegas in the warehouse you found last week. He needs to fill the vacancy, now.”

“This is a good thing,” she pointed out blankly, without even looking at him. 

“He wants me to take you to the other Omegas. You’re not supposed to be alone in here when your Alpha’s not around.” He took one cautious step forward, noticing immediately the sudden, unconcealed terror on her face. Ben didn’t know why, but his hands were on her shoulders even before he realized it, his thumbs brushing gently at the freckled skin there as he searched her eyes. “They assured me nobody’s going to touch you while I’m gone.”   
  
“What if they lie?” Rey asked, trying to hide the trembling in her voice. “What if they use me to restock?” 

“They won’t. If they even try, I’m going to kill them.”

It took him a second, and Rey’s surprised, almost appalled expression, to realize how bluntly and effortlessly his words have come out. 

Ben could feel the now-routine knot of worry and distress forming in his stomach. He must not speak to her like this; it wasn’t his place or his role. Rey wasn’t his, no matter how that traitorous, dangerous part of his brain wanted her to. 

Rey didn’t belong to anyone but herself. She was her own, and her freedom, her independence, her well-being—her not being on that damn desk, being mated against her will, not even by him—was the most important thing right now, even more important than this damn mission. 

“I’m going to be fine.” She stared as calmly as possible, her eyes stuck on his. Her words were calm, almost soothing. “I can take care of myself.” 

Ben knew she could, he was sure of it. 

He almost shuddered as he felt the light touch of her hands landing gingerly on his upper arms, her thumbs soothingly grazing his biceps before they lowered to his forearms and guided them gently to her neck. he scent gland on his wrists brushing casually against the ones right under her jaw. 

The contact wasn’t supposed to be arousing, or intimate. Ben rationally knew that. It was a precaution. The more she smelled like him, the more she would be protected by other Alphas. And yet, even if it was just a necessity, there was something devastatingly heartfelt about in that gesture, in the way her much smaller hands kept his own against her neck, as if she needed it as much as he did. 

He expected pretending to be this young woman’s abusive mate would be complicated, devastating, and heartbreaking, but to his great discomfort, it was disturbing in a way he wasn’t prepared for.

Agent Niima—Rey—had been his partner for less than two days, and they’d gone through so much already, he could already feel some kind of unsettling bond between them. They were brothers in arms, in a way, but it wasn’t just that; it wasn’t that easy, and it was not just about how much they enjoyed each other’s scents, about the physical intimacy they had been forced to share. It was a weird, quiet, unexpected connection that made his toes curl as he sincerely enjoyed the gentle expression of relief on her face as she kept his wrists glands against her neck, as she breathed deeply, inhaling his scent as if it was actually able to make her feel better. 

It was breathtaking, and even if he realized that, given his current lack of suppressants, he would probably have been painfully hard in seconds. He didn’t care. All he wanted to do was keep looking at that kind, freckled face and keep everything else outside of the peaceful, reassuring bubble of her presence. Her pulse under his thumbs, her scent in his nose, the warmth of her body closeto his. 

It came as an explosion in his mind: the realization that he wanted to kiss her. Not kissing her in that ugly, frenzied way he had kissed her in the bathroom, dictated by his urges and very little else. He didn’t want to kiss her because she smelled good, because she was beautiful, because she was an Omega and he was an Alpha. He wanted to kiss her because she was kind, she was brave, and she was the only tiny, little string of light left in that dark, revolting place. She was the only left shred of light and he needed her desperately. Helplessly.

But the reasons he wanted to kiss her were exactly the reasons why he could not do it. No matter how hard it was to remember this was only an act, how natural it felt just to keep her close even when they didn’t need to be, he needed to focus on the fact that Rey was the one facing the hardest task. 

She needed a supportive, respectful partner, not an irrational, possessive mate she didn’t ask for. A mate that circumstances had forced on her. 

He moved his wrists slightly, just enough to stop the contact between his glands and those on her neck. It was a moment longer than he expected before her hands released his forearms, and she sighed heavily, lowering her gaze. 

That closeness was making things harder for him, both physically and mentally, just as he had expected. It was discomforting how much her scent was able to influence every tiny reaction of his body. It had to be horrible for her. Already she must have smelled the slightly aroused shift in his scent as he tried to keep himself as expressionless and unmoving as possible. 

It didn’t help at all that she wasn’t moving away. She was still too close, and his stupid, ancestral Alpha side was now screaming at him to just take his chance, to actually take her, mate her, protect her . . . and it was simply revolting of him.    
  
How was he any better than those criminals downstairs? 

Ben clenched his jaw, deeply hating his cock with every inch of his soul for getting even harder at the thoughts of him doing those things to her. 

“Promise me you’ll be careful,” Rey murmured after a long moment. It took him a stupid amount of time to realize she had spoken to him. Of course she was worried for him, and for the right reasons. Not because she wanted him, but because it was her job to do so. She was not only a better person than him, but also a better cop.

“I will,” he muttered with a strained, low growl that made him almost feel ashamed.

“I know.” 

Her eyes weren’t lowered anymore; they’d landed somewhere on his face, lost in something, her lips parted as her pupils grew wider. He realized it instantly, as soon as he smelled her scent taking a hotter, stronger turn. They were too close, far too close, and that had started affecting her too. It was his lips she was looking at, and his mouth ran as dry as the desert as soon as he realized it. 

His mouth clenched helplessly, and it took him all the willpower he could muster to take a firm step away. It was enough to shake Rey out of it too, calling her back to the present as she looked back at his eyes, swallowing thickly. 

“I’ll be careful,” she assured him, her voice a bit shaky.

“I know,” he murmured as he left. 

  
  


***

  
  


Ben’s assignment from Snoke wasn’t, in fact, as incriminating as he had expected. Well, it was, just not for crimes that were of pressing interest to him right now.

He had heard of DJ before. He was one of Snoke’s most trusted dealers, but only in terms of drug distribution, not human trafficking. Not that he was in the position to complain, of course, but even the slight risk that who was responsible for this would not be prosecuted to the fullest possible extent was deeply unnerving to Ben.

He had put his microphone in place carefully, taping the small device on his chest and hiding it under his dark button-down. He only hoped it helped. Until now, none of the recordings had helped in any way, as Snoke’s collaborators had been always extremely careful not to utter the name of their bosses out loud, probably following the old Alpha’s instruction. 

DJ was waiting for him in one of the most notable clubs in Alderaan. The owner, apparently, owed him a quite hefty favor, so the dealer had made himself comfortable, using the space in the daylight hours while nobody was there.

“You m-must be Ren,” the tall, broad figure of the Alpha dealer greeted him. He was looking disturbingly at ease, casually resting on the soft cushions of a couch as he sipped what looked like a mojito at ten in the morning.

Ben clutched the suitcase in his hand more firmly. 

“I am,” Ben replied flatly. DJ shifted forward from his relaxed pose, giving him a look of interest as he put his elbows on his knees.

“How’s Grandpa's d-doing?” he asked, clearly referring to Snoke, just as Ben expected.

“Same old, same old,” he replied flatly in he sat down on the couch in front of him.

“You’re not a chatter, I g-guess.” DJ didn’t sound offended by his lack of will for smalltalk. “G-good. Let’s keep things to the essentials, shall we?”

Ben put the suitcase on the coffee table between them and opened it with a swift movement of his big hands, instantly displaying the contents to the other man.

He knew exactly what was in there, and honestly he had no wish to look at it. Two kilograms of pure Bliss, worth at least two hundred thousand dollars on the market. The problem now was that he didn’t see just tiny, pink vials in that suitcase; all he could see were abused Omegas and Rey’s scared face looking at him.

“As you asked,” he muttered, clearing his throat.

DJ took one of the small vials in his hands, toyed with it, and brought it to his nose as if he could discern if it was authentic even through the glass.

“Very well.” He shrugged, extending his hand to take another vial. “I guess we just need to test it, then.”

Ben’s stomach clenched in pure panic, but he didn’t move an inch. It wasn’t exactly a common occurrence, but after ten years in Narcotics he had seen this scene before—dealers asking their suppliers to share a dose to make sure the product was good.

“I’m trying to be healthy,” he remarked flatly. “Recently turned vegan, you know.”   
  
DJ gave him an amused look.

“How c-considerate of you,” he mused, pushing a vial toward him across the table anyway. “But you can’t expect me to just take your word for it. You’re the new guy here. Humor me.”

Ben’s eyes stuck on the vial. He knew exactly what Bliss’s effects were supposed to be. Increased blood pressure, adrenaline release, dopamine release, increased sexual drive — like his wasn’t enough already. In rarer cases, hallucinations, memory loss, and momentary unconsciousness were possible.

He inhaled deeply. If he managed to stay away from Rey long enough, he would most likely be able to ignore most of the short term symptoms. 

DJ raised his eyebrows, looking impatient. Ben knew it was a matter of trust at this point, and he couldn’t afford to refuse on his first day in the new position.

His huge fingers gingerly twisted the vial in his hand, opening up the small plug on top. 

“Cheers,” he muttered before bringing the dose to his nose and inhaling deeply. He could do this. He had enough control, he was sure of it. 

“C-cheers,” DJ repeated, and did the same with a wide smile. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special thanks to HarpiaHarpyja for being the beta to this absolute mess <3


	6. Chapter 6

Rey gave a cautious, attentive look around, analyzing her surroundigns as rationally as possible. The spacious basement in which Ben had left her looked unexpectedly cozy, but that was probably because most of the Omegas in there (at least twenty according to her count) had made a bunch of nests, following their instinctual drive to use cushions, blankets and old, ragged couches to make their heat as comfortable as possible. 

The smell there, though, was almost making her nauseous. There were far too many of them to be healthy. Most of the people in the room were women, with the exception of three boys who looked barely legal and were standing on the opposite side of the room, resting their lanky bodies in their nests.

All the Omegas in the room were either about to begin their heat or in the early phase of one, so the sound of their pained whines was a constant background noise that made every hair on her body raise in discomfort.

This was a stocking room, apparently. When one of the Alphas had to leave the house, they dropped their Omegas here to make sure that no one would try to touch their toys. The thought made her sick.

Rey was about to move one step forward when she noticed one of the other Omegas, a dark-haired woman in her mid-thirties, standing up at a sudden shift of scent in the room.

The dark-haired woman’s eyes went wide and bloodshot as her attention landed on a much younger, shorter Omega resting on one of the couches with a pained expression on her face.

The younger one was the source of the shift of scent, as her heat was rapidly approaching, and the dark-haired Omega looked extremely pissed about it.

As she started walking toward the shorter one, steps unsteady steps but face twisted with fury, Rey couldn’t help but ask herself what was going on. 

She found out almost instantly. The older Omega jumped aggressively onto the other, practically growling as her hands went for her throat. The shorter one, despite her discomfort, managed to wrestle her onto her knees, and in a moment the two of them were fighting on the floor, with hands, teeths and nails.

Rey’s stomach clenched, and before she knew it she was marching toward them, determined to stop their nonsense. 

She almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a gentle hand landing on her shoulder, stopping her in her staps.

As she turned around she found the defeated eyes of a blonde young woman looking at her.

“There’s nothing you can do,” she whispered. “Don’t interfere. They’ll settle it.”

“What? Why? Why are they fighting?” Rey asked, stunned, as she allowed the stranger to guide her a few steps away.

“They were both mated by the same Alpha,” the blonde woman explained. “It’s only their biology telling them to compete,”

“But they’re acting like-”

“Animals?” The blonde Omega sighed deeply. “It’s what mating does — in these conditions, at least. Plus, they’re both in heat.. That’s when things get worse.”

It took Rey a moment to realize that the woman talking to her was weirdly controlled compared to those in the same environment. Her scent was surely quieter than that of anyone else in the room.

“Who are you?” Rey asked.

“You’re not mated yet, are you?” 

Rey just shook her head, trying to avoid the discomfort caused by the question. When the blond woman gestured for her to follow, though, she did so instinctively. 

“Here,” she said, offering Rey a place under a stinky blanket on an empty couch. “We need some privacy for this.”

“Again, who are you?”

“My name is Kaydel,” the Omega introduced herself. “And you are?”

“Kira,” Rey replied instantly, feeling a discomforting pressure in using her false name.

“And when are they going to mate you?”

Rey shook her head, swallowing thickly.

“I don’t know.”

“If you’re not going to have your heat soon, they’re going to use enhancers on you. That’s how it works,” Kaydel explained. “That’s what they do with me. My heats are very controlled usually, so they control them instead.”

Rey could feel cold sweat running down her back.

“How is it even possible that you are so…”

“Calm? Rational?” Kyadel asked. “Well, I’m not in heat.” 

Rey’s brow furrowed as she looked around.

“Not all of them are,” she observed, getting a better look at the other Omegas in the room. “They don’t look in the right condition to have a rational conversation with anybody.”

The other woman sighed heavily, giving her a pensive look, as if she was actually evaluating her. 

“Have they assigned you an Alpha yet?” Kaydel asked.

Rey nodded; after all, it was kind of true.

“Well, since you’re not going to be in any condition to talk pretty soon ...” The other Omega considered as she kept studying her. “I’m going to tell you. Plus you look healthy. If any of us could manage to escape, it’s probably going to be you.”

“What are you even talking about?” 

“What they’re doing here, Kira,” Kaydel whispered, coming closer to make her voice even quieter. “It can be reversed. We can be saved. The mating can be undone.”

Rey’s eyes shot open, her mouth falling agape.

“What do you mean?” 

“Before they took me here, out there, I was a researcher. The professor I work with, Doctor Kalonia, is an endocrinologist. An AO endocrinologist. We’ve spent the last three years studying a vaccine that can prevent the hormonal response to mating. No more pliancy, no more submission. It prevents the chemical bond with the Alpha from ever being formed.”

“No more Omegamine,” Rey muttered absently, her eyes stuck on the other Omegas in the room.

“You know about Omegamine?” Kaydel looked almost surprised.

“Well, yes.” She cleared her throat, trying hard to sound as casual as possible. “I took a whole semester of AO biology in college.” 

It was only partially true; most of her knowledge on the matter came from Rose Tico’s reports.

“Oh, well, not exactly no more Omegamine,” the other Omega continued in a very thin whisper. “It only prevents the brain from reacting to Omegamine like it usually would,” she explained, pointing her head at the others in the room, most of them acting more like suffering animals than actual people.

“Is this why you’re not as affected as them?” Rey asked.

“I’ve injected an early version of the vaccine. Risky, I know, but I scented my kidnapper as I was walking out of the lab. I realized that he was an unsuppressed Alpha, so I did what I could.” Kaydel sighed heavily. “Be careful here, Kira, and don’t tell this to anybody.”   
  
Rey nodded, stunned.

  
  


***   
  
  
Meeting Kaydel had been great, unexpected news. Maybe there was hope for them after all. Maybe there was hope for all the Omegas she’d found in that house once this investigation was over and Snoke was finally rotting in jail. 

She needed to tell Ben. He had contacts with the outside world, and maybe he could inform Captain Dameron and ask him to contact this Doctor Kalonia. Maybe...

As he entered the room they shared, escorted by a tall, bald Alpha she didn’t give a second look to, she noticed that there was something very strange about the scent of his partner. It was stronger, and sweeter in a quite confusing way she couldn’t consciously identify. 

As the bald Alpha finally closed the door, leaving her, she marched toward the bed, only to find Ben sitting on the large armchair next to it, eyes wide and stuck on the ceiling, pupils blown, with what looked like a very uncharacteristic smile on his face.

The more she looked at him, the more she noticed new, worrying details. His large hands were fidgeting obsessively, and he was sweating, his brow even paler and riddled with pearls of sweat he didn’t seem to feel the need to remove, which was pretty unlike him considering how much he tried to keep himself in control.

As her eyes lowered, she noticed with shock that his pants looked like they were about to explode with what appeared to be a desperate erection tenting the fabric covering his crotch nearly to the limit.

“Rey,” his voice cracked slightly as he turned his head to look at her, his absent smile turning so wide that unprecedented dimples showed up on his cheeks.

“Ben?” she moved forward, almost hurrying, a distinct feeling of unease claiming every inch of her as the most primal part of her brain kept telling her that he wasn’t all right, he was too pale, and there was surely something really wrong in his scent. 

  
Rey barely even noticed her own hand reaching for his cheek, her wrist landing in an instant on the scent gland on his neck in a gesture that wasn’t supposed to be sexual, just a familiar gesture of caring between AOs who had shared a certain level of intimacy.

She couldn’t help but wonder where that urge had come from.

Ben shuddered visibly under her touch. 

“Ben, what’s wrong?” she asked, doing nothing to hide her concern. Her fingers landed on his pulsepoint. His heart sounded like he was running a damn marathon. 

“I’m going to be alright,” he murmured, looking obnoxiously unfazed by her worry, “I just had to take a dose to maintain cover.”

Her eyes were now as wide as possible.

“You did what?” 

“Snoke sent me to a dealer for a delivery,” he explained, frowning slightly and almost bursting into laughter less than a second later, “He demanded I try the product with him,and I couldn’t refuse or I would have put us in danger. He might have suspected something.”

Rey barely registered his huge hand landing on her forearm, and less than a second later he was pulling her with nearly uncontrolled strength, making her land a bit too roughly on his over-excited lap and squeal in surprise.

Despite his raging erection, which she could now feel under her thigh, what struck her the most was the total despair that had suddenly appeared on his face as he grabbed her shoulders. 

“I couldn’t allow it, Rey,” he declared, his voice sounding fuzzy and absolutely devastated. “I couldn’t put you in danger.” 

She turnd around slightly, her hands crading his face, instinctively, and Rey couldn’t help but feel stunned and confused by the sudden proximity despite the current unnatural note in his scent. 

A part of her wanted to be furious at him for being so reckless, for putting himself in danger by using a substance that dangerous, but at the same time she knew that, in the same situation, with both their lives at stake, she would have done the exact same thing. 

The caretaker part of her personality, forged by thousands of years of Omega evolution, was rapidly kicking in, and for once, she felt at ease with it.

“It’s okay.” She hummed as her thumbs brushed his cheeks gently. “You’re going to be alright.”

He answered with a confused moan, nodding slightly, but before she could elaborate a proper plan to sober him up she found herself squealing as an uncontrolled upward thrust of his hips almost planted his erection in one of her buttcheeks.

Her whole face flushed hot as lava as he gave her a shocked, flustered look.

“I-I’m so sorry,” Ben stuttered helplessly, his breath growing more ragged by the second. “This thing - I-I’m not in control at all, It’s making me so horny, I - Rey, you should move away.”

Yes, she should. And yet every inch of her body urged her to remain exactly where she was. They’d been here before, just yesterday, when Ben was hiding in the shower to fight against what the lack of suppressants was doing to him, and a part of her knew exactly where this was going. 

Rey shuddered visibly at the thought of him on top of her, of his scent brutally enveloping her, of their glands brushing against each other. Her lips parted without her realizing, desperate for more air, more air that smelled like him. 

“No,” she just whispered.

By now Rey knew that Ben couldn’t take care of his current condition on his own. His body needed pheromones, and glands, and contact, not just some mechanic, rapid gesture to get the edge off. 

Her response was automatic, something her body demanded of her, an urge she was disturbingly willing to oblige.

She cleared her throat, forcing her voice to remain steady. 

“Do you trust me, Ben?” she asked, looking into his eyes and finding shock and desperate confusion there.

“You must know I do,” he muttered under his breath. “More than anything.”

Rey had to bitterly remind herself that this was probably the drug talking, not him. Yeah, maybe he really trusted her, but the absolute, complete devotion in his tone must have been a product of his current state, nothing more. 

“Good.” She nodded, moistening her lips with a swift movement of her tongue that seemed to hypnotize him.

She planted her hands on his shoulders, using his broad muscles there for leverage as she moved swiftly, shifting on top of him to straddle his lap. 

As soon as his erection scraped her core through his pants, they both gasped in shared, stunned surprise. Rey felt an unprecedented wave of uncomfortable warmth invading her, leaving her lower belly burning in its wake.

Her eyes struggled to focus as her hands clung to his shoulders. This was far more intense than she could have imagined, and they still had their clothes on. Rey shivered at the thought of taking those stupid clothes off, of finally allowing their skin to touch as much as possible, but she urged herself not to linger too long on those thoughts. Even if Ben needed this (and in a way she did too), it didn’t mean that he wanted it, not for the reasons she was too cautious to hope for, at least. 

“Rey,” he groaned, barely managing to look at her. “What-”

Her hands cradled his face yet again, lifting his jaw just enough to allow her to look into his eyes. They were wide and shocked yet burning with need, pupils blown wide.

“Do you trust me?” she repeated, forcing her gaze not to fall to his lips. This wasn’t about that, after all. 

He closed his eyes with a deep, shuddering breath and nodded.

Rey thrust her hips against him, just once at first, every muscle in her lower body contracting helplessly as she sought the steadiest, most efficient movement possible. Despite her determined, calculated attitude, though, in the exact moment her cunt pushed deliberately against his still-clothed cock, she felt a distinct, devastating shift in their scents, urging her to melt into him, to forget about any kind of complicated process currently troubling her mind. 

All of a sudden there was need, just need. Need on his face as he looked at her with wet, grateful eyes; need as his huge, trembling hands landed on her hips, clinging to her there like his life depended on her next movement.

She bucked her hips again, stronger and messier this time, as she felt the distinct, wet sensation of her slick damping her underwear more and more. He growled desperately, his voice nestling low in his chest, making her hands on his shoulders vibrate with that deep, barely human sound.

This time, his hips bucked slightly against hers as she moved, and Rey barely recognized the thin whine of arousal coming out of her mouth as she felt his cock pushing against the restriction keeping it apart from her. It was almost maddening. Soon, the presence of their clothes might literally begin to hurt, so she decided to focus on something else, like his hands.

She had always found his hands one of the most striking features about him. Huge, solid, gentle and yet forceful, always warm. Right now, they felt even warmer on her hips as his digits sank into the fabric of her stupid dress, grabbing for her flesh there and squeezing it not so gently as he accompanied her movements with his trembling grasp.

The truth, Rey realized with a ragged breath as she kept thrusting against him, was that they didn’t have much time before she would be the one coming undone on top of him, and she was in no condition to allow herself such a thing, not when Ben was the one in need right now. 

Her hands knew exactly what to do, the glands on her wrists desperately searching for contact as she put them right under his jaw, seeking the sensitive, reddened scent glands on his neck.

It was disturbing how familiar the gesture felt at this point, and how her whole body bloomed with an unprecedented wave of pure pleasure at the contact. She nearly forgot how to breathe.

Now those huge hands clutched with an iron gri, guiding her movements firmly, almost compulsively, as he ground her against his impossibly hard cock. Rey should have been embarrassed by the loud, sharp mewl escaping her mouth, or by Ben’s rumbling moan of appreciation as soon as he heard her. She should have been embarrassed, shocked by how this was going, but there wasn’t a single fiber in her body willing to care right now.

It felt too natural, too right, even if it wasn’t. Rey leaned her forehead against his, their sharp breaths mingling, trembling lips just inches from each other.

“Rey,” Ben managed to plea, his voice a wounded, low growl, “I need to kiss you, I need this to feel real or I’m gonna go insane, please, please -”   
  


She had to fight a traitorous tear threatening to leave her eyes. Ben’s soul was too pure for his own designation, for this horrible world, for the terrifying situation they were in. He deserved something better than this, than her. He deserved the illusion, too. 

Her hands remained on his face, still cradling the soft skin of his cheeks, and when her lips found his trembling, burning ones, they met with a deep, slow peck she hadn’t expected from him. His mouth remained closed for a long moment, as if he was trying for some reason, to savour that contact like it actually meant something. 

One of his large hands even reached for her nape, pulling her closer, enveloping her as she sighed into the kiss, overwhelmed. 

He was really too good for this. He deserved so much better. 

When his lips finally parted and the kiss deepened, it felt nothing like the rushed, feral clash of teeth and lips of the day before. There was so much more to it — not only need, but also a bittersweet, sorrowful sense of tenderness she could not rationalize. 

The arm he had rested against her hips encircled her waist, keeping her close as his clothed hips bucked up into her, making her gasp as he moaned loudly into her mouth.

His muffled groans were becoming more frequent as his thrusts against her grew fiercer, finding a maddening rhythm that was rapidly turning their clothes into a damp, sticky mess. 

That pace was maybe a bit too much, but she didn’t have the heart to ask him to slow down, especially since their mouths were so deliciously, messily sealed together, and a very primal part of her was enjoying far too much the overstimulation of her throbbing clit. 

It was so disturbingly, unfairly good to be at his mercy, as his hips kept smashing against her, his growling chest pressed against her hard, aching nipples. She barely registered the tight, undeniable burn that mounted in her lower belly. Every nerve in her body was tingling, ready to snap as she grinded herself erratically against his cock, more desperate with every thrust. 

It was rapidly becoming too much, a heated, damp mess of heated skin, drenched fabric and animalistic moans. It occurred to Rey that, though the situation wasn’t exactly normal, wasn’t exactly real, nobody had ever kissed her like that. Ben’s lips were determined, firm yet frantic, thorough, like he actually meant it. 

Despite the burning-hot pleasure mounting in both of them, he was focused, probably stuck on his need to make it as real as possible, and Rey had to restrain herself from crying. He deserved better. He deserved to share such a vulnerable moment with someone he actually cared about.

It hit her like a ton of brick —, the realization that she did care. 

In that exact moment, as her brain finally comprehended that revelation, the sensation that had been building inside her finally exploded into a merciless, butal wave of burning pleasure. Every part of her body tensed as she found herself practically screaming into his mouth, her ability to breathe forgotten for a time that seemed to stretch endlessly.

He squeezed her tighter, enough to make her ribs ache, his arms shaking around her as his loud growls turned into a single, long, rasp and his hips jerked up one, two times before he collapsed on the armchair with her, sated as the already thick, humid spot on their clothes darkened and spread where their bodies merged together.

For some unfair, cruel reason, Rey really wanted to smile as she looked at him, his eyes closed as he tried to regain control over his breath.

She didn’t, but she did allow herself to look at him, only to realize that his lips were still on hers, his breath heavy against her face, his hands still encircling her much leaner form. 

Rey cradled his face affectionately, leaving one final, long peck on his mouth before moving her head to his shoulder, resting there for a long moment as she tried to catch her breath. 

She didn’t deserve it. She didn’t deserve to feel this good. She felt his fingers stroking absently at the nape of her neck, bringing her back to a much crueler reality.

“Better?” She hummed hesitantly against the fabric of his shirt.

“I will be.” His voice cracked as he spoke, full of sadness as his fingers kept stroking her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, amazing people <3 Sorry it took me so long, work has been a bitch lately. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed your dose of angst and despair today <3 if you did, let me know in the comments, please <3 
> 
> Thank you to the sweetest, brightest, fluffiest, bestEST person around, HarpiaHarpyja, for being the amazing beta, incredible author, super-kind friend that she is <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this. I'm clearly out of my comfort zone here (I usually write comedy) so let me know what you think in the comments if you feel like it, every feedback is welcome!
> 
> A special thanks to HarpiaHarpyja, amazing beta, and super sweet friend <3


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